Reading the Lotus Sūtra for Spiritual Insight

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras
Year Four
Module 4: The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment
Parables, Myths and Symbols of the Saddharma-puarka Stra
What does this module aim to do?
Its purpose is to support you in becoming familiar with the Saddharma-puarka Stra,
one of the earlier Indian Mahyna Stras and one of the most influential in Far Eastern
Buddhism; and, in particular, to find your own way to engage personally with what has
strongly appealed to the spiritual imaginations of generations of practitioners: the Stras
story, parables, myths, symbols and archetypes.
How?
Notwithstanding the helpfulness of commentaries and Sangharakshitas The Drama of
Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra is very
good indeed there can be no substitute for reading the Stra itself. This is the primary
study material. So do read as much of the Stra as you can, and the bits you like several
times; if you can, compare translations. You can download the recommended translation
of the Stra by Burton Watson from a number of websites (see below).
At the very least, read Cittapalas Abridgement (included in the Modules Appendix); the
relevant sections of which Im recommending you should read aloud in your group each
week, a practice close to the traditional mode of disseminating the Stra. Given the length
of the Stra, I suggest starting with the chapters of the Stra that the Abridgement uses
(see the table below). So whilst there is introductory material in the first two weeks of the
module, you could get hold of a copy of the Stra and start reading now!
Sangharakshita has stressed that however much you manage to read, its crucial to
approach the Stra as you might a good novel, or play, or poetry: to enjoy and immerse
yourself in the story that unfolds. Aim to study the doctrinal details, what they mean and
their import, later. First off, try to experience the Stra as a whole, to let it touch you, to
let its story and revelations make an emotional impact on you, to speak to your heart as
much as your intellect, and especially to your imagination.
While this Module, as a whole, is about reading and listening to the Stra, the first two
units are about how to read it. The first How to read the Stra brings together a number
of Sangharakshitas thoughts on Buddhist Canonical literature, the importance of myth
and the crucial role of imagination in relating to this material. By imagination I mean that
faculty of ours that, in understanding the metaphorical nature of language, resolves and
transcends any tensions between thinking and feeling faculties, to apprehend truths in a
higher or deeper dimension of reality. The second unit, The Mahynas stance, collates
some key points about the Mahynas distinctive articulation of the Dharma finding
Year Four Module 4: The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment
http://freebuddhistaudio.com/study
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expression in the Stra, knowledge of which makes it easier to understand the Stra as we
read.
As you read, please also take a look at the questions attached to each unit. These have
been prepared to spark off your own reflections and explorations. While each unit has a
number of questions, some will appeal to you more than others; I suggest concentrating
on those. Even going into just one question fully is sufficient; its ok not to look at all of
them.
While the questions may be helpful, some of you may find they keep you in an overly
rational mode, and consequently may prefer to explore your responses to the Stra in
other ways or through different media, i.e. less conceptually, for example, with crayon s,
paints, or some plastic medium, or through a variety of creative writing exercises.
While you can simply translate the action of the Stra from one medium into another as
a way of assimilating the material, you could also try to go a step further i n expressing
your understanding of the Stras message, and any further implications it has for you and
others. For example, you could imagine, or find contemporary examples, of how the
Stras stories, or elements within it, impact on your understanding of situations you may
know of, real or imagined. You could explore the impact on you of any parts of the Stra
that you experience with particular emotional charge, i.e. any of the characters; what
happens to them; the nature of their story; or its underlying themes that have particular
meaning for you.
Likewise in your group, you may prefer to not get drawn into a lot of conceptual
discussion, but use group role plays to explore your responses to the Stra, the principles
involved in one of the scenes from the Stra, and any ramifications they have in situations
from your own life, or someone you know. For example, arising from your reading of the
Parable of the Burning House could come a group improvisation exploring the theme of
ethical urgency, and the dilemmas implicit in acting skilfully for the greater good of all
concerned.
In group discussion, help each other to engage with the spirit of the Stra. Clarify your
personal responses, e.g. what in the Stra inspires and uplifts, or, alternatively challenges
and disturbs you? What are the nature of your doubts, reservations, etc? Are there any
implications for your life? Your attitude? And the choices you make? In all this, avoid
literalism, i.e. remember to make allowance for the figurative and metaphorical nature of
language.
For those with both time and enthusiasm for more background reading and study, I have
attached a number of items and questions in the Appendix, i.e. suggestions for taking
your interest further (as time progress I will add to these). Commentaries, as I said, can be
very helpful, and if you do have time I strongly recommend reading Sangharakshitas The
Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment, that is based on edited versions of his lectures along
with edited transcripts of questions and answers with himself and study group leaders.
Given that doing this may take more time than you have available, it might be easier if
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you could share this with other group members, one member taking ten minutes to present
Sangharakshitas key points to the group each week.
Module outline
Unit
Unit Title
Recommended chapters in Stra
How to read the Stra
The Mahynas stance
The Saddharma-puarka Stra
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22
Transcending the Human Predicament
1, 2, 3, 7
The Myth of the Return Journey
The Jewel in the Lotus
8, 10, 25
Symbols of Life & Growth
The Revelation of Abundant Treasures
11
The Eternal Buddha
14, 15
10
The Parable of the Good Physican
15,16, 22
Course text
Watson, B., (trans.), 1993, The Lotus Stra, Chichester: Columbia University Press.
Recommended Text available for free download on a number of websites accessible via
Google. For example, at the time of going to press:
http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_T0262_LotusSutra_2007.pdf
Appendix
Cittapalas Abridgement.
Suggestions for further reading, project work, more questions.

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Unit 1 How to Read the Stra

Aim
To clarify how to approach reading the Stra and to appreciate its riches, while discussing
the crucial importance of imagination in this.
Preparation
This units homework is a prcis condensing a number of Urgyen Sangharakshitas
different lectures and published writings (see references below). Read this and reflect on
one or more of the questions that youll find at the end.
Throughout the worlds history, the figure of the story-teller, encircled by a

crowd eager to know what will happen next, is central and vital. In stories and
tales, myths and legends, a culture recognizes itself and identifies its needs and its
ideals. On an individual level too, through these narratives we recognize the deep
and inchoate stirrings within our own hearts. Our strongest memories of stories
may be associated with childhood, but the hold of story-telling on our hearts does
not really leave us when we grow up; it takes on new guises. In our culture,
scientists and the manipulators of the media may appear to be the purveyors of
truth, but it is still to stories films, novels, even computer games - that we turn
for a more satisfying version of reality. Stories have the power to cut through our
mental chatter and hold us spellbound, strangely attentive to the fate of imaginary
or long-dead characters. And when we emerge from the compelling world of the
imagination, in some mysterious way we seem able to make more sense of the
ordinary world that we experience day to day.
In the Saddharma-puarka Stra or Lotus Stra, we meet the Buddha as a
story-teller. The Buddha, surrounded by a great crowd of disciples monks and
nuns, laymen and laywomen not to mention a vast assembly of non-human
beings, chooses to tell a story because conceptual explanation has failed to
convince many in his audience. Indeed, it has thrown them into utter confusion.
The Buddha has simply pointed out that, despite all their spiritual attainments,
they do not yet know everything. They have something more to learn. The very
idea sends shock-waves through the entire assembly. Five thousand disciples,
unable to believe their ears, get up and walk out. And those who stay are
bewildered. What more can they have to learn, profoundly versed in the Dharma
as they are? What can the Buddha mean?
The Buddha was perhaps expecting this. Remarking that, Through a parable,
intelligent people reach understanding, he launches into a story that will explain
matters. This one parable convinces some of his listeners. They rejoice, they tell a
parable of their own expressing their gratitude. And as more and more parables are
told, more and more disciples do at last grasp what the Buddha has been talking
about. These parables, perhaps the most significant in the entire range of Buddhist
canonical literature, are famous throughout the Buddhist East.
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We may discover it comes as quite a relief to listen to stories such as those in the
Stra, in spite of, or even as an escape from, the fast moving media-world we live
in. And more than this, contrary to a misplaced sense of guilt, we may discover
that allowing ourselves to just sit and listen is not far from a childish distraction.
After all its worth remembering listening receptivity, willingness to learn,
open-heartedness - is, according to Buddhism, the first level of wisdom; sravaka,
often translated as monk, literally means one who hears.
The Lotus Stra speaks almost exclusively in the language of images, of poetry, of
myth and symbol, of simile and metaphor. These make up the language of the
imagination, the language of the emotions. Although the Stra is very long, its
conceptual content is minimal. Concepts address the conscious mind. But images
appeal to the unconscious depths that - as modern psychology has made us aware are within us all. The Stra, therefore, appeals not to the head but to the heart, not
to our intellect but to our imagination.
The Stra is not just a collection of stories and parables. It is in itself in form a
sort of drama, even a sort of mystery play. It has for its stage the entire cosmos,
and the action lasts for millions of ages. The dramatis personae consist of the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Arhats, gods, demons, and humankind; that is, all
sentient beings whatsoever. And the atmosphere of the Stra is very strange, an
atmosphere of miracle and marvel. As the Stra unfolds, what we see is a sort of
transcendental sound and light show. As for the theme of the drama, it is a very
great one indeed. It is Enlightenment; not just the Buddhas Enlightenment, or the
disciples Enlightenment, but the Enlightenment of all sentient beings whatsoever.
Like many popular tales of myth and fantasy, whether traditional like the stories of
King Arthur, or modern like The Lord of the Rings and some forms of science
fiction, the Stra can spark off something within us of which we were not
previously aware; we can be moved and inspired, often without being able to say
how or why. If we really allow ourselves to become absorbed in the Lotus Stra,
we become part of it. We join the great assembly and experience ourselves right in
the midst of it, taking part in the events of the Stra as they unfold. When we are
touched by the poetic, mythic, symbolic in this kind of way, something in us, that
is of archetypal significance, is being worked out on the historical plane which
gives us a fuller and richer experience, so that we see it for what it is more clearly.
In this way, we can come to experience a deeper meaning to our existence,
satisfying a universal human thirst within us.
Experience of this type can convince us that whatever our rational, conceptual,
historically-orientated consciousness may comprehend, there is an imaginative or
archetypal dimension to life that eludes it. While undoubtedly we belong to the
realm of historical reality, we also belong to this realm of archetypal reality. It
may come as a shock to realise that we experience the archetypal realm only
because we ourselves, are, on another level, archetypal beings. The Lotus S tra
can only reveal this world to us because it is our own world, the one we actually
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live in, but usually without knowing it. But it is not a question of leaving the realm
of historical reality behind; we exist in them both all the time, whether we are
aware of it, or not. Its analogous to the way we experience our waking and dream
lives. If we are to give a complete account of ourselves, we must describe not only
our waking life but also our dream life; and significantly, most of us find this very
difficult to do. All too often whereas the two seem discontinuous, occupying
different planes, it is possible to be aware in such a way of the continuity of the
relation between the two.
When we say the Lotus Stra is a myth, what do we mean? A myth emerges, not
out of thin air, but out of spiritual necessity. It comes into being when people have
very strong feelings and profound aspirations about what goes beyond personal
situations that need to be projected into an, as it were, objective form. By myth, in
this sense, we do not mean something false, untrue or mere fantasy. On the
contrary, a myth points to something deeply true, an expression, through image
and story, of truths beyond the direct grasp of our intellect. It is like a diamond: its
beauty is fully revealed when worked on by a master jeweller, its facets sparkling
with reflected light and iridescent colour. In this way we come to understand that
meaning is not a thing that we grasp by looking in a dictionary. Meaning is
meaning for each of us, something we personally experience. Our thirst for
meaning is therefore our search for our self, our quest for totality, the wholeness
of our own being, that lives partly, if not essentially, in a realm, not of clearly
defined meanings, but of undefined, even undefinable meanings.
Notwithstanding the huge popularity of the Lotus Stra, sometimes people find it
difficult to engage with. While it may appear to be set in what we think of as our
normal world, being a Mahyna Stra it is essentially free from the contingent,
the determinate, from time, space and causality, from historical reality. So it is not
to be taken literally. As has already been said, to get the most from our encounter
with the Stra, its important to set out to enjoy and immerse ourselves in it in the
way we might a good novel, play or poetry; to allow ourselves to be captivated by
its atmosphere and magic this being more an openness to feeling and emotional
resonance than intellectual understanding and analysis. It is true that we may well
feel more at home with Western literature that deals often with ordinary human
predicaments with which we can easily identify. But human frailty is not the only
possible subject for literature; it is not always the most inspiring and uplifting. The
Stra takes us away from ordinary human life and its problems to give us a taste of
the magical. If we read the Stra as literature rather than dogma, as poetry rather
than scientific fact or philosophical truth, we may perhaps be more open to its
spiritual message.
In reading the Lotus Stra as literature, hard work as it may be at times, we engage
with it for its own sake rather than for some ulterior purpose, not because we have
to, perhaps out of some sense of an external authority telling us we should, or a
sense of fundamentalism that this is The Word, but because we have a natural
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affinity with it, because we are spontaneously drawn to it, because we find
ourselves immersed in an emotionally positive mental state as a consequence.
As we read, we should open ourselves to being moved by the power of the
literature, to read the Stra in such a way as to allow our self to experience its total
impact; to read the Stra as a whole, appreciating its artistic unity so as to grasp its
fundamental significance, its gestalt, i.e. not reading it piecemeal, and not
concentrating on the parts at the expense of the whole.
And most importantly as we read, we should have in mind that the Stra is
recounted from the lips of Ananda as Buddhavacana, the word of the Buddha, a
communication to the hearts and minds of those yet unenlightened from the heart
and mind of an Enlightened One, whose sole purpose is to serve the happiness and
welfare of all sentient beings. This calls for us to take the Stra seriously, i.e. far
from the Buddha indulging in flowery language just for its own sake, he is
communicating something that he thinks is worth communicating, that is meant to
move us at the deepest level of our being and spiritual intuition.
References
Editors Preface in Sangharakshita, 1993, The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment:
Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra, Glasgow, Windhorse.
http://www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=712
The Glory of the Literary World Reflections on the Buddhist Canonical Literature in
Sangharakshita, 1993, The Priceless Jewel. Windhorse, Glasgow, pp.159-175.
http://www.sangharakshita.org/online_books.html
Suggested questions
Please reflect on one, or more, of the questions below:
1. How do you characteristically respond to the mythic, the poetic, parable, legend
and story in Western culture, and also in Buddhist literature? Explore two or three
great works of art that particularly move you? Pay attention to how you derive
meaning from them.
2. Are there any Buddhist stories, parables, myths or symbols that you warm to and
find yourself imaginatively engaging with?
3. Reflect on what you find to be the most effective and useful way to engage with
stories, parables, myths and symbols? Is it sufficient for them to stand without
further explanation? How would you respond to a more art-based approach to
exploring your responses, e.g. using pencil or paint, or creative writing?
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4. What is your own personal bias in respect of abstract, conceptual language on the
one hand, and non-rational, poetic language on the other? How does this work
itself out in your own life? How is this reflected in terms of how you relate to
scientific and poetic truths?
5. How do you relate to the contention that archetypal experience is as significant as
our ongoing everyday experience of ourself?
In the group
Share and discuss any relevant experience sparked off by reading the text above and the
questions that have been of interest to you, as well as any other issues relating to the
principal themes of the unit.

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Unit 2 The Mahynas Stance

Aim
This unit, in focusing on the spiritual tradition of the Mahyna from which the
Saddharma-puarka Stra emerged, aims to help us clarify some of the spiritual
concerns and attitudes that inspired Mahyna practitioners and that are expressed
throughout the Stra.
Preparation
As for the last unit, below is a prcis condensing a number of Urgyen Sangharakshitas
lectures and published writings (see references below). Read this and reflect on one, or
more, of the questions that youll find at the end.
In discussing how best to read the Stra we have come to some understanding of
why the Lotus Stra explores the Dharma principally through parables, myths,
symbols and archetypes. As we read the Stra, it is also important to bear in mind
that it is a product of the second great phase of Indian Buddhism, the Mahyna.
And while the fundamentals, the essence of the Dharma remains the same, the way
the Stra presents the Dharma reflects the particular emphases and perspectives of
the Mahyna.
Although one way to deepen our understanding of these concerns is through
studying the history of the development of the Mahyna and there are some
excellent explorations of this (see Further reading in the Appendix) in this unit
we will simply introduce a few of the distinctive emphases of the Mahyna
expressed in the Lotus Stra.
In keeping with the Stras mode, well start with a parable. Lets suppose that
there is a terrible famine somewhere of the kind that still happens. People are
gaunt and emaciated, and there is horrible suffering. In a certain town in the
country which has been struck by this famine there live two men: one old, one
young, who each have an enormous quantity of grain, easily enough to feed all the
people.
The old man puts outside his front door a notice which reads: Whoever comes
will be given food. But after that statement there follows a long list of conditions
and rules. If people want food they must come at a certain time, on the very
minute. They must bring with them receptacles of a certain shape and size. And
holding these receptacles in a certain way, they must ask the old man for food in
certain set phrases which are to be spoken in an archaic language. Not many
people see the notice, for the old man lives in an out-of-the-way street; and of
those who do see it, a few come for food and receive it, but others are put off by
the long list of rules. If food is only available on those terms it seems less
troublesome to go hungry. When the old man is asked why he imposes so many
rules, he says, Thats how it was in my grandfathers time whenever there was a
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famine. What was good enough for him is certainly good enough for me. Who am
I to change things? He adds that, if people really want food they will observe any
number of rules to get it. If they wont observe the rules they cant really be
hungry.
Meanwhile the young man takes a great sack of grain on his back and goes from
door to door giving it out. As soon as one sack is empty, he rushes home for
another one. In this way he gives out a great deal of grain all over the town. He
gives it to anyone who asks. Hes so keen to feed the people that he doesnt mind
going into the poorest, darkest, and dirtiest of hovels. He doesnt mind going to
places where respectable people dont usually venture. The only thought in his
head is that nobody should be allowed to starve. Some people say that hes a
busybody, others that he takes too much on himself. Some people go so far as to
say that hes interfering with the law of karma. Others complain that a lot of grain
is being wasted, because people take more than they really need. The young man
doesnt care about any of this. He says its better that some grain is wasted than
that anyone should starve to death.
One day the young man happens to pass by the old mans house. The old man is
sitting outside peacefully smoking his pipe, because it isnt yet time to hand out
grain. He says to the young man as he hurries past, You look tired. Why dont
you take it easy? The young man replies, rather breathlessly, I cant. There are
still lots of people who havent been fed. The old man shakes his head
wonderingly. Let them come to you! Why should you go dashing off to them?
But the young man, impatient to be on his way, says, Theyre too weak to come
to me. They cant even walk. If I dont go to them theyll die. Thats too bad,
says the old man, they should have come earlier, when they were stronger. If they
didnt think ahead thats their fault. Why should you worry if they die? But by
this time the young man is out of earshot, already on his way home for another
sack. The old man rises and pins another notice beside the first one. The notice
reads: Rules for reading the rules.
No doubt youve already guessed one possible reading of the parable: that it
contrasts two very different attitudes to spiritual life and our motives for engaging
in it. The old man can be seen to represent the Hnayna; the young man the
Mahyna; the stock characters of Arhat and Bodhisattva respectively found in
so many Mahyna Stras. The famine is the human predicament, the people of
the town are all living beings, and the grain is the Dharma, the teaching. As a
universal religion, Buddhism addresses itself not to any particular group or
community, but potentially to each and every human being. Nevertheless, just as
in principle both the old man and the young man are willing to give out grain to
everybody, so in principle both the Hnayna and the Mahyna are universally
applicable, i.e. meant for all, but we find there are important differences in
approach and emphasis.

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The Mahyna derives its inspiration not only from the Buddhas teaching but also
from the way he lived his life, particularly the very evident compassion that
motivated the Buddhas entire life. This is why the Mahyna stresses both
wisdom and compassion, saying that compassion inevitably arises from true
wisdom. Mahyna scriptures say, Wisdom and Compassion are the two wings of
the bird of Enlightenment, and with one wing only it cannot fly. The life story of
the Buddha shows that he didnt wait for people to come to him. He didnt just sit
under the bodhi tree and wait for disciples. During the forty-five years following
his Enlightenment, he travelled far and wide to seek people out and teach them.
Time and time again the scriptures report the Buddha as saying, I went to them
and said... He used to go out to meet people - merchants, queens, goatherds,
flower-sellers and afterwards tell his disciples, I went to them and said... And
if someone came to see him, the Buddha would take the initiative in the
conversation. He would greet the newcomer and put them at their ease, so that
they felt welcome. This was the living example of the Buddha.
In the same spirit the Mahyna goes out to meet people. The Mahyna literally
speaks the language of the people it is addressing. For example, in all the
Mahyna Buddhist countries - China, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia the scriptures
were translated from the Indian languages into the local language from the very
first. Tibet didnt even have a written alphabet when Buddhism first arrived there.
The first Tibetan Buddhists created a literary language so that the Tibetan people
could read them for themselves. But more than this, the Mahyna also tries to
speak the appropriate language of its audience, not just literally but
metaphorically.
The young mans activity, coming from his compassionate concern for others
welfare, exemplifies the Mahynas great emphasis on skilful means (upyakaualya), i.e. the use of whatever pragmatic means, pertinent in particular
circumstances, that lead in the direction of authentic spiritual freedom. On a
practical level, this is essentially a matter of approaching people, not through some
ulterior motive such as wanting them to convert to Buddhism, but as an expression
of positive feeling, kindness, friendly concern, and natural spontaneous awareness
of what they need, empathizing with and encouraging them. This is what draws
people to follow the Dharma, which is itself the greatest of skilful means, and
what constitutes the life-blood of the Sangha.
Consequently, one of the Buddhas teachings that the Mahyna is concerned to
emphasise is the simple but profound realization that concern for the welfare
and the spiritual development of other people is an integral part of ones own
spiritual development. Indeed, to be concerned with ones own development but
completely uninterested in that of other people is self-defeating in the long run.
The Mahynas great spiritual hero, the Bodhisattva - a being (sattva) dedicated
to the attainment of Enlightenment or awakening (bodhi) draws inspiration from
the figure of Siddhartha Gotama setting out on the quest for Enlightenment. The
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Bodhisattva is one in whom the urge to grow which is present in every living
being has become self-conscious. Realizing that the urge to develop spiritually is
potential in all living beings, a Bodhisattva feels a sense of solidarity with other
beings, and could not possibly ignore them and think solely in terms of his or her
own salvation. Bodhisattvas therefore dedicate themselves to Enlightenment not
just for their own sake but for the sake of all living beings whatsoever.
The Mahyna vision sees that all forms of life in the universe on all levels, and
perhaps especially on the human level, are interrelated and interacting. This vision
is not static, for the individual forms that make it up are in motion, all are heading
in one direction. Admittedly, some are a little further ahead, and some are lagging
behind, but they are all moving towards the same goal, and they are all, directly or
indirectly, in contact with one another. The urge to Enlightenment, the
transcendent urge to something above and beyond the world, is innate in all life,
but it is a blind urge, like that of lotus plants sunk in the mud groping for the light,
and it becomes self-conscious in the Bodhisattva.
But we should not think, Hnayna bad, Mahyna good. These two great
Buddhist traditions enshrine enormously important spiritual principles that have
appealed to practitioners to this day, the contrast between them helping to
elucidate those principles. Evidence of the contrast between the Bodhisattva and
the Arhat is plentiful in the Mahyna scriptures, and indeed the Saddharmapuarka Stra. For a really vivid impression you have only to look at the
Buddhist paintings and sculptures produced in India and China. The Bodhisattva is
usually depicted as a beautiful young man or woman sitting on a delicate lotus
flower. He or she has a graceful figure, long flowing locks, and man y fine
ornaments. The Arhat, on the other hand, is usually an old man with a bald head
and bushy eyebrows. Clad in a shabby monastic robe, he leans wearily on a
knotted staff. No lotus seat for him - he is usually standing on solid rock, or
sometimes, for a change, floating on the ocean.
The Bodhisattva represents the transcendental spiritual ideal in all its perfection
and purity, the abstract ideal not stained by anything of the world, but lifted above
it. The Bodhisattva is not young as distinct from being old, but eternally young,
which means that the youthfulness of the Bodhisattva represents something
outside time and space.
The Arhat, by contrast, represents the realization of the ideal under the conditions
and limitations of space and time, the stress of history. So the Arhat is not just
somebody who is old, but somebody who has become old. No wonder the Arhat
has a weather-beaten, worn look.
The youthful figure of the Bodhisattva represents the ideal as it exists outside
space and time, and the Arhat is that same ideal incorporated within the historical
process, manifesting under the conditions of space and time. The very fact of those
conditions means that the ideal cannot manifest fully. Even if you have realized
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that the eternally youthful Bodhisattva represents you as a human being, can you
manifest that spiritual ideal fully in your life? Your life has only a certain length,
and you have only two arms, two legs, and one pair of hands. There is so much to
do, and so much that you cannot do. So within the historical process the ideal
cannot actually be manifested fully by any individual, not even by the Buddha.
The historical Buddha died. To manifest the ideal fully he would have had to go
on living for ever and ever, and living everywhere. A limitation is automatically
imposed if you are existing under the conditions of space and time as an ordinary
human being. This is what the Arhat represents, and this is why he appears
battered and bowed. The ideal is there, but it is there as manifested under the
conditions of space and time.
Another reading of our parable could be as follows: until we have reached a
relatively refined level of spiritual practice, there is little point in exploring
metaphysical subtleties; while we are still finding it difficult to concentrate the
mind, or practise mindfulness in the affairs of everyday life, it is more important
to focus on basic principles, such as generosity (dna). Without this preparation
the deeper insights of Buddhism may remain for us just matters of philosophy in
the narrow intellectual sense, with no real bearing on our own lives. This is why
the Dharma as presented in such works as the Lotus Stra is so popular.
Nevertheless some introduction to the Mahynas philosophical perspectives
can help us with what may appear at first sight fantastical in works such as the
Stra, and help explain why Mahayanists used what to our minds are sciencefictional flights of fancy.
The Mahyna wants to stress that we should see existence not statically, but
dynamically; not in terms of entities, but in terms of processes; not in terms of
fixed solid unchanging things, but terms of what are called dharmas an
untranslatable term which means something like phenomena. These dharmas are
in the ultimate sense neither existent nor non-existent the terms existent and
non-existent themselves are only ideas of our own mind. Dharmas being neither
existent nor non-existent, they have no separate characteristics by which they can
be distinguished or recognised. Because they have no separate characteristics, they
are inconceivable and inexpressible.
While it might be relatively easy to say, this is not easy to understand deeply. We
can find ourselves speaking of higher spiritual experience, even Nirvana, as if we
know all about it. But we dont. While we may think we can conceive of it, in fact,
we dont really know anything about it at all. And it is vital to remember this. It
means that as we progress in the spiritual life, we are going forward into the
unknown. Spiritual emancipation is always freedom from the known; its
attainment always of the unknown, the unpredictable, the unforeseen, even the
unforeseeable. The truth is that spiritual emancipation is inconceivable.

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It is not that we dont know anything about higher spiritual experiences. Since
existence itself is inconceivable, the fact is we dont really know anything about
anything at all. Its not that we dont know very much, or that we dont know it
very well. This statement is to be taken quite literally: we dont know anything
about anything. But of course we think we know, and on that basis we build up all
sorts of thought-constructions, ideas, attitudes, views and philosophies. But,
according to the Mahyna these are nothing but delusions.
So here is a paradox: the Dharma reveals the nature of existence but if the nature
of existence is inconceivable and not to be fathomed by thought, it cannot be
uttered in words. And not only do we not know anything about anything, we
cannot really say anything about anything. Even Buddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot
really teach the Dharma in words. So how is the Dharma to be communicated and
taught?
The Mahyna seeks to demonstrate the Dharma through action, and frequently
through magical action. According to Buddhist tradition, Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas possess all sorts of magical powers. They can move things from
place to place, create things, transform themselves into the likeness of anything
they wish. Moreover, they can do this on a cosmic scale. They can move whole
universes, and play with space and time. This is the stuff of transcendental science
fiction in which the magical acts are seen to demonstrate the Dharma.
There is good reason for this: existence itself is frequently compared to a magic
show, like a magical illusion. Just as dharmas are neither existent nor non -existent
they cannot be said to really appear nor disappear. Existence is just like a great
collective hallucination, that the Mahyna also compares to a dream, an echo, a
mirage, a reflection, a ball of foam, and so on. But, for all this the Mahyna is not
trying to tell us that nothing exists at all. What it questions is the ultimate validity
of the conceptual constructions that we superimpose upon our experience. Where
we go wrong is in interpreting our experience in terms of fixed, solid, unchanging
things. This is why the Mahyna regards magical acts as being demonstrations of
the Dharma: because these acts are themselves an illustration of what existence is
really like.
Bearing these concerns of Mahyna practitioners in mind we will be more able to
mine the riches deep within the Stras they wrote to express their inspiration and
love of the Dharma.
References
Sangharakshita, The Universal Perspective of Mahyna Buddhism in The Drama of
Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra,
Windhorse, Glasgow, 1993.

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Sangharakshita, The Magic of a Mahyna Stra in The Inconceivable Liberation,

Themes from the Vimalakirti Nirdesa: a Mahyna Buddhist Text, Windhorse, Glasgow,
1993:
Suggested questions
Reflect on one or more of the questions below:
1. Can you summarize the difference in the perspectives of the Hnayna and
Mahyna?
2. As exemplified in the Parable of the Young and Old Man, Sangharakshita asserts
that, whilst all forms of Buddhism are in principle universal, the Mahyna is
more effectively universal in practice than Hnayna. This is because, in following
the example of the Buddha in going forth out of compassion to communicate truth
to others, the Mahyna stresses both Wisdom and Compassion. The Mahyna
does not wait for people to come to it, but goes out to them in many different
ways. Explore for yourself what makes for a universal perspective. To what
extent are you motivated by it?
3. If we find Basic Buddhism communicated within the pages of the Pli Canon,
what need for Mahyna Stras, and spending time with them?
4. To what extent do you engage with the ideal of the Bodhisattva, and hence might
think of yourself as a Novice bodhisattva? If so, what particularly attracts you in
the Bodhisattvas path of training? What challenges does it pose for you in your
life? Or would you prefer to see yourself as a potential Arhat? Wherein lie any
dangers of literalism for the practitioner?
5. What do you make of the Mahynas concern to envisage magical action as a
means to exemplifying the inconceivable nature of experience?
In the group
Share and discuss any relevant experience sparked off by reading the text above and the
questions that have been of interest to you, as well as any other issues relating to the
principal themes of the unit.

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Unit 3 The Saddharma-puarka Stra, The White Lotus Stra

Aim
To get an introductory overview of the Saddharma-puarka Stra and a sense of how
the story unfolds, its shape and feel.
Preparation
Before you get hold of a copy of the Stra, (or even the Abridgement) and start reading,
as a first step I strongly recommend listening to Sangharakshitas audio-lecture: The
Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment (link below), in which he introduces the story of the
Stra, chapter by chapter (you can also download a transcript of the talk from the same
site). This will come as near as you can get to the original mode of oral transmission by
which the Stra passed from generation to generation until it was written down.
As you listen, just listen: imagine the story unfolding in your minds eye, as it were,
visualising the scenes like watching a film. The Stra is a kind of transcendental science fiction: at times strange, bizarre, unfamiliar, unintelligible, incomprehensible, surreal.
Stop your rational mind from ticking; dont think, or ask yourself what it means, or what
its getting at; dont try to work it out. For now just let the Stras images work their own
effect; allow yourself to feel and imagine the story unfolding.
You can listen online, or download Tracks 6-14 of the mp3/mp4 audio-file formats at:
http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=96
The total length of this section of the talk is 65 minutes.
Afterwards, reflect on some of the questions below:
1. What impact has the story of the Stra as a whole made on you? What kind of a
feeling are you left with? This may not be easily put into words. It may be more of
a sense of something, even some kind of meaningful embodied experience:
definite but more physical and kinesthetic than conceptual.
2. Clarify your personal responses to the Stra, e.g. do you feel inspired and uplifted,
or alternatively, challenged and disturbed? What are the nature of any doubts or
questions you may have?
3. What do you make of the Stra both as a whole and any particular aspects of it
that strongly appeal to you? What is your overall felt sense of its meaning and
purpose?
4. Ask yourself: Are there any implications here for my life: my attitude, my
approach to spiritual life, the choices I make?
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In the group
Discuss your experience of doing the preparation with reference to any questions that
have been of interest to you, other issues arising in relation to the text, and any further
reflections that members of the group may wish to share from engaging with material in
the Appendix.
Alternatively, spend the evening reading the Abridgement together, assigning different
parts to different readers. It will take approx. 2 hrs 15 minutes.

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Unit 4 Transcending the Human Predicament

Aim
To explore our individual response to the Buddhas revelation of Universal
Enlightenment in the Stras first three chapters, and to engage with questions implicit to
practising upya or skilful means as highlighted through the Parable of the Burning
House.
Preparation
For a succinct recapitulation of the first three chapters of the Stra, read the relevant
paragraphs, reproduced here, from Chapter Nine of Sangharakshitas The Eternal Legacy,
pp.109-112.
As in the case of a number of other Stras, both Hnayna and Mahyna, the
venue of the great revelation is the Gdhraka or Vulture-Peak overlooking
Rjagha. In the Saddharma-puarka, however, the earth is spiritualised, and the
Peak represents, not a geographical expression, but the summit of existence. This
is indicated by the fact that around the Buddha are gathered not only twelve
thousand Arhats but eighty thousand Bodhisattvas, besides tens of thousands of
gods and other non-human beings with their followers. To this vast assembly he
preaches the Vaipulya-stranta known as the Mah-nirdesa or Great Exposition.
Flowers fall from the heavens and the universe shakes. He then enters into deep
meditation, whereupon there issues from between his eyebrows a ray of light
which illumines upward to their highest heavens and downwards to their lowest
hells, innumerable world-systems in the infinitude of space, revealing in each one
of them a Buddha teaching the Dharma to his disciples, and Bodhisattvas
sacrificing life and limbs for the sake of Supreme Enlightenment. Voicing the
curiosity of the whole congregation, Maitreya inquires of Majur the meaning of
this sublime spectacle. The latter, who has witnessed such wonders before, under
previous Buddhas, replies that the emission of the Ray has always preceded the
promulgation of the Saddharma-puarka Stra, which he believes the present
Exalted one to be about to preach (Chapter 1).
Emerging from his meditation, the Buddha proceeds to justify the transition from
the more elementary teaching to which he had hitherto confined himself and the
higher one now to be disclosed. Addressing riputra, and through him the whole
assembly, he declares that truth in its plenitude can be understood only by the
Tathgatas. Others must have faith in the Word of the Buddha and approach it
gradually, step by step, through a series of progressive stages. For this reason it
had been necessary for him to preach, by way of introduction, first the lower,
preparatory ideals of the Arhat and the Pratyekabuddha. Had he all at once
revealed to his disciples the highest truth, telling them outright that they too were
one day to attain Supreme Enlightenment, they would never have believed him.
Even now, despite the entreaties of riputra, he is doubtful whether the
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congregation is ready for his ultimate revelation. For some, who refuse to accept
it, it may even be an occasion of spiritual disaster. As though in confirmation of
his words, five thousand Hnayna disciples, recoiling in dismay from the
threatened supersession of their cherished ideals and achievements, withdraw from
the assembly. To the faithful that remain, Bodhisattvas and Disciples (rvakas)
both, the Buddha reveals the final truth.
The three different ynas or vehicles which he has appeared to preach,
representing the Arhat, the Pratyekabuddha and the Bodhisattva ideals, are only
temporary expedients made necessary by the diversity of temperament among the
disciples, as well as by their varying degrees of spiritual development. In reality
there is but One Vehicle (ekayna), the Great Vehicle (Mahyna), wherein the
Buddha himself abides and by means of which he delivers sentient beings, leading
them from the provisional to the final truth, from partial to complete
enlightenment. Were he to act otherwise he would be guilty of spiritual
selfishness. Supreme Buddhahood alone is for all the ultimate goal. Whoever
practise the pramits, engage in devotional observances - offering even a single
flower in worship have, as it were, already become Buddhas. The one thing
needful is faith (raddh), not in the sense of belief in unverifiable propositions,
but in that of the existential response of ones total being when confronted by the
image of the highest spiritual perfection (Chapter 2).
This response to the Buddhas words elicits from riputra, who, overjoyed that he
is to become a Fully Enlightened One, regrets at having hitherto devoted himself
to the realization of an inferior ideal. The Buddha tells him that he and the other
disciples took the Bodhisattva Vow under him aeons ago, but that temporarily
forgetful of the fact, he had, in his present existence, wrongly imagined the
Hnaynic Nirvana to be the highest possible achievement. In the inconceivably
distant future, he predicts, riputra will become a Tathgata called
Padmaprabhsa or Lotus-Radiance, his Buddha-field (-ketra) will be known as
the Vimala, Dustless or Passionless, and his aeon (kalpa) as the
Mahratnaprati-maita or Great Jewel-Adorned. He will train and mature
countless Bodhisattvas.
Though riputra had accepted the new dispensation with such alacrity, other
members of the congregation are still tormented by doubts. Was the previous
teaching actually false? Have they gained nothing at all by following it so
devotedly over such a long period? Has the Buddha not deceived them? In order to
reassure and finally convince these disciples the Buddha tells the first of his
tremendous parables, that of the Burning House. At great length, with splendour of
language and abundance of picturesque detail, he describes how a prominent elder,
possessed of inexhaustible riches, lived with his numerous progeny in an old,
dilapidated, vermin-infested mansion. One day fire breaks out. The children,
absorbed in play, do not notice what has happened; but their father, who is
outside, realises that they are in imminent danger of destruction and calls to them
to come out.
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Since they ignore his appeals, and go on playing, he resolves to have recourse to a
stratagem. Knowing that his boys were inordinately fond of playthings of various
kinds, he again calls out to them, this time promising to some goat-carts, to others
deer-carts and to yet others bullock-carts. On hearing these words they all come
rushing and tumbling out of the burning house. Having brought them to safety, the
elder bestows upon them, in response to their demands, not the three different
kinds of cart actually promised, but bullock-carts only, all of the most splendid
workmanship imaginable. For he feels that possessed as he is of inexhaustible
riches it would be unbecoming for him to bestow upon his own offspring inferior
things. The burning house is conditioned existence; the children, sentient beings;
the wise elder, the Buddha. By the three kinds of vehicle are typified the Arhat,
the Pratyekabuddha, and the Bodhisattva ideals. The bullock-carts in which, after
their escape from the house, the children all equally ride, is the Buddha-yna or
Mahyna.
In promising one thing and giving another the elder was not guilty of falsehood,
for he had from the beginning determined to save his children by means of an
expedient. No more, therefore, is the Buddha himself guilty of falsehood in first
preaching the Three Vehicles to attract all sentient beings and afterwards saving
them by means of the One Vehicle only (Chapter 3).
Read Chapters 1-3 of the Stra. As you do so reflect on one, or more, of the questions
below:
1. Which elements in these first three chapters, as well as the parable, are you drawn
to, and why? What kind of spiritual issues are raised for you?
2. The parables principal metaphor of the Burning House has had an enduring
effect on the Buddhist imagination, as well as raising challenging questions for
both teachers and disciples. In what ways do you experience the burning house
of sasra? Do you resonate with the metaphor of the human condition being that
of a predicament or trap? Are you prone to escapism? If so, how? Are there any
particular games that you are not so willing to let go of, to move on from? In
what sense could Buddhism be said to promote escapism (as other religions are
similarly accused by scientific rationalists)? How do you respond to the criticism
that the parable is effectively a secularized vision of Heaven and Hell?
3. What sort of vehicle will really work to get you out of your burning house? Is
this really any different to any other vehicles that you know of? How important is
that?
4. Can you identify in any way with the Fathers predicament? How do you envisage
reconciling carrot and stick approaches? The parable might appear to suggest
that ends can justify the means? What do you think about this? What do you
make of the parables exemplification of skilful means (upya)? How do you
make sense of the Stras claim that the father has not acted dishonestly in
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offering his children different carts but then giving them all the same kind? How
does this relate to the distinction between Doctrine (dharma) and Method
(vinaya)?
5. The Parable of the Burning House is told by the Buddha in the wake of a number
of his advanced followers deciding they have learnt all that they need to learn.
What do you make of the incident in the Stra of the Arahats walking out? What
do you think this says about the relationship of a Teacher(s) to his or her d isciples,
and the notion of living independently of the Teachers dispensation? What do
you make of reviewing your whole understanding of the Dharma whenever you
gain a new insight into an aspect of it?
6. How could the distinction between ultimate (paramrtha-satya) and relative
(savti-satya) truths help with rationalising the justification of any activity as
skilful means, e.g:
It works for me?
In the group
1. Assigning parts to different readers, read aloud Chapters 1-3 of the Abridgement
of the Stra, (reproduced in the Appendix).
2. Discuss your experience with reference to any questions that have been of interest
to you, or other issues arising in relation to the text, and any further reflections
that members of the group may wish to share from engaging with material or other
exercises suggested in the Appendix.
3. Conclude your session by reading the excerpt from the Abridgement again.

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Unit 5 The Myth of the Return Journey

Aim
To explore those symbols that speak to us of the human condition, to examine in what
sense we personally are on a return journey, and to engage further with the questions
inherent to the use of skilful means.
Preparation
The Buddhas four most senior disciples tell the Myth of the Return Journey as a way of
expressing their delight in the Buddhas revelation of the higher truth that they too can
follow the Buddhas example in achieving supreme Enlightenment.
For a succinct recapitulation of this section of the Stra, read the relevant paragraphs,
reproduced here, from Chapter Nine of Sangharakshitas The Eternal Legacy, pp.112113.
This parable is not without effect. Four of the leading elders, Subhuti,
Mahktyyana, Mahkyapa and Mahmaudgalyyana, though at first amazed
by the Buddhas prediction of riputra to Supreme Enlightenment, now realise
that even for Arhats like themselves who, owing to age and decrepitude, have so
far remained content with the Hnaynic Nirvana, it is not too late to transfer their
allegiance to the higher Bodhisattva ideal and aspire after Buddhahood. Elated by
the glorious prospect, they give expression to their joy, which Mahkyapa, with
the Buddhas permission, explains in the form of a parable.:
A young man has left home and for many years wandered from place to place
abroad, becoming all the while poorer and more wretched. His father, after
searching for him in vain, settles in a certain city and engaging in business
amasses immense riches. Eventually, by accident, the son reaches that very place
and happens to see his father seated in his mansion surrounded by all the
paraphernalia of wealth, but without being able to recognise him. The rich man,
however, at once recognises his son, and dispatches his attendants to call him. The
poor wretch, afraid of being arrested, falls down senseless with fear. Realising that
years of poverty have debased his sons mind, the rich man decides not to
announce their relationship all at once. Instead, he sends first an attendant to set
him at liberty, and afterwards two shabbily dressed men to hire him as a
scavenger. When he has been employed for some time the father, disguising
himself, contrives to approach him periodically, admonishing him to work well,
promising to increase his wages, and eventually declaring that he will hencefo rth
regard him as his own son. As a result of this treatment, mutual confidence
develops between the two, and the son gradually learns to go in and out of his
adoptive fathers mansion as he pleases. One day the rich man falls ill, and
knowing he will soon die, commits the management of his entire property, and all
his affairs, to the son, who is now equal to the responsibility. Finally, on his
deathbed, he publicly relates the whole story, declaring that the supposed manager
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is in reality his son and the natural heir to his immense riches. The son, on hearing
these words, is filled with joy at such an unexpected stroke of good fortune.
As Mahkyapa proceeds to explain, the rich man is the Buddha, while the poor
son represents himself and the other disciples who, after removing the dirt of the
passions, have been content to receive Nirvana as it were for their days wages.
The announcement that the real relation between the two was that of father and
son is like the Buddhas declaration that the Arhats are not hirelings of the
Dharma but his own true sons, that is to say Bodhisattvas, and heirs to the infinite
riches of Supreme Enlightenment. Like the poor man, they too are astounded and
rejoice (Chapter IV).
Read Chapter 4 of the Stra. As you do so reflect on one, or more, of the questions below:
1. What are the main point(s) being communicated through this myth to you? Are
there any elements in the myth that you particularly identify with, or that speak to
you? How do you experience that? Are there any particular spiritual issues there
for you?
2. In what ways do you experience your (spiritual) life as a journey? How, if at all,
could you view this as a return? Even if you dont have a sense of returning,
how would doing so make a difference to your experience of journeying?
3. Are there any other symbols, perhaps coming from great works of art, that speak
to you of the human condition? In what ways does this bring out different
dimensions of your experience to that of life as a journey?
4. If we read the Myth of the Return Journey as symbolising different dimensions of
our own individual psyche, what do you personally draw from it that speaks to you
of a relationship between your Higher and Lower Selves? How can this language
work as a skilful means?
5. Does this Myth promote paternalism?
6. What are you learning about the Buddhist conception of upya or skilful means?
In what ways do you see the parables exemplifying the four means of unification
(saghrahavastu): generosity, loving speech, beneficial activity and
exemplification, that is said to be one of the key elements of skilful means?
In the group
1. Assigning parts to different readers, read aloud Chapter 4 of the Stra from the
Abridgement (reproduced in the Appendix).
to you, other issues arising in relation to the text, and any further reflections that
Page 23 of 150
members of the group may wish to share from engaging with material or other
exercises in the Appendix.

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Unit 6 The Jewel in the Lotus

Aim
To continue to explore the symbolism of lower and higher self through firstly the parables
of the Place of Jewels, and the Drunkard and the Jewel, and secondly that of
Avalokitevaras mantra.
Preparation
While Chapter 10s parable of the Drunkard and the Jewel has similar motifs to that in
the Myth of the Return Journey, there are some essential differences that are interesting
to explore. At the same time, as Sangharakshita demonstrates in his lecture, the parable
has close resonances with Avalokitevaras mantra. So, although Avalokitevaras role in
the Lotus Stra is arguably peripheral, this is an opportunity to pay attention to Chapter
25, devoted to perhaps the most prominent of Mahyna Bodhisattvas.
reproduced here, from Chapter Nine of Sangharakshitas The Eternal Legacy, pp.114117.
Interest now shifts from the future to the past. Addressing the whole body of his
disciples, the Buddha speaks of Mahbhijjanabhibhu, a Tathgata who had
flourished incalculable aeons earlier and whose career in certain respects parallels
his own. While the rest of this Buddhas followers had remained content with the
Hnayna doctrine, his sixteen rmaera sons, born before his retirement from
the world, had aspired to Supreme Enlightenment, and for their benefit he had
preached the Saddharma-puarka. All of them had subsequently been crowned
with the highest spiritual achievement, the youngest being none other than the
speaker, kyamuni, himself. The countless beings to whom the sixteen, as
rmaeras, had given instruction, were now reborn as human beings and had
become Hnayna bhikshus. Similarly those who, at the time of his parinirva,
were still unable to accept the Mahyna, would be reborn in other world-systems
where, under his guidance, they would continue their training and be led,
eventually, into the way of Supreme Enlightenment.
His seeming entry into parinirva was only a device for training monks of lower
aims. In reality there could be only one parinirva and one yna, not a second or
a third. The Tathgata preached the Hnayna Nirvana for the sake of those who
were bent on the enjoyment of trifling things and deeply attached to human
desires. This is illustrated by a parable:
A guide is conducting a large party of travellers through a dense forest, along a
dangerous and difficult road, to Ratnadvpa, The Place of Jewels, their
destination. On the way the travellers become exhausted, and tell the guide they
want to turn back. The latter, out of pity, thereupon conjures up a magic city and
invites them to rest and refresh themselves therein. Only when they have regained
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their strength does he cause the city to disappear and urge them to complete their
journey. The magical city is the Hnaynic Nirva conjured up, as it were, by the
Buddha out of compassion for those who might otherwise have turned back,
discouraged, before reaching Supreme Enlightenment. It is a temporary,
provisional state, for the true Nirvana is Buddhahood itself.
The Buddhas, the onward Leaders,
Call the resting-place Nirva,
But, perceiving Their people rested,
They lead on to Buddha-Wisdom.1
The effects of kyamunis exhortations now begin to be felt among the
congregation at large, and more and more disciples come forward to confess their
shortcomings and announce their acceptance of the new teaching. Pra
Maitryaputra, whom the Buddha extols as the foremost of his preachers, is
predicted to Supreme Enlightenment, likewise five hundred other distinguished
Arhats. As Mahkyapa had done, they give expression to their feelings by means
of a parable which, being shorter than most of the others, may be quoted in full:
World-honoured One! It is as if some man goes to an intimate friends house, gets
drunk, and falls asleep. Meanwhile his friend, having to go forth on official duty,
ties a priceless jewel within his garment as a present, and departs. The man, being
drunk and asleep, knows nothing of it. On arising he travels onward till he reaches
some other country, where for food and clothing he expends much labour and
effort, and undergoes exceedingly great hardship, and is content even if he can
obtain but little. Later, his friend happens to meet him and speaks thus:
Tut! Sir,
how is it you have come to this for the sake of food and clothing? Wishing you to
be in comfort and able to satisfy all your five senses, I formerly in such a year and
month and on such a day tied a priceless jewel within your garment. Now as of old
it is present there and you in ignorance are slaving and worrying to keep yourself
alive. How very stupid! Go you now and exchange that jewel for what you need
and do what-ever you will, free from all poverty and shortage. 2
The jewel represents the aspiration after Supreme Enlightenment which, though
taught them by the Buddha in a previous existence, the Arhats had temporarily
forgotten (Chapter VIII).
Further predictions follow. Ananda, Rahula, and two thousand other disciples are
in turn assured of the highest spiritual perfection. The apparent favouritism shown
to Ananda, whose prediction is couched in particularly glowing terms, is explained
as the consequence of his Original Vow that, till the time of his own Supreme
1
ibid. Ch.7, last four lines.
The Threefold Lotus Sutra Bunno Kato, Yoshiro Tamura, and Kojiro Miyasaka (New York and Tokyo, 1975), p.177.
Page 26 of 150
Enlightenment, he would be the guardian of the Dharma of future Buddhas

(Chapter IX).
The Hnayna disciples having been persuaded to accept the higher spiritual ideal,
kyamuni impresses upon all the Bodhisattvas present the supreme importance of
the Saddharma-puarka and the necessity for its preservation. Addressing the
Bodhisattva Bhaiajyarja or King of Healing he declares that those sentient
beings, of the various types and classes represented in the assembly, who hear but
a single verse or word of this Stra, or by so much as a single thought delight in it,
are all assured of Supreme Enlightenment. Moreover, the written text is not only
to be read, recited, copied and expounded, but ceremonially worshipped with all
manner of precious things. Thereby incalculable spiritual benefits will accrue. On
the other hand, while all other blasphemy, even the Buddha, is comparatively
trivial, the sin of abusing Stra, or defaming its devotees, is extremely grave. Such
indeed, is its transcendent virtue, that beings having even the remotest connection
with it are blessed. Those who worship it become themselves worthy of worship.
In particular should the preacher of this Stra be honoured even with flowers,
perfumes and jewels. The preacher himself, however, must be endowed with
qualities commensurate with those of the discourse. He should enter into the
abode of the Tathgata, be clad with the Robe of the Tathgata, and sit on the
sacred Seat of the Tathgata... The abode of the Tathgata is love (maitr) towards
all sentient beings. The Robe of the Tathgata is great patient forbearance
(mahkanti). The sacred Seat of the Tathgata is the Voidness of all the elements
of existence (sarvadharma-nyat).3 Besides cherishing and protecting such a
preacher, kyamuni promises, he will from time to time appear before him in a
pure and shining spiritual form (Chapter X).
...In the Sanskrit text as now extant there ensues a series of episodes, devoted to
the cult of various Bodhisattvas, such as Bhaiajyarja, who offer spells
(dhras) for the protection of the Stra, Gadgadavara, and Avalokitevara
(Chapters XXI-XXVI). As these interrupt the continuity of the action, and are no
doubt interpolations, they are described in Chapter 11, below. ...
...Chapter XXIV (of the Stra) celebrates the praises of the great Bodhisattva
Avalokitevara, here also called Samantamukha, and which even now often
circulates as an independent work. Asked why Avalokitevara is so called, the
Buddha replies it is because he delivers from fire, flood, shipwreck and other
calamities those who invoke his name. He, too, assumes different forms according
to the needs of sentient beings. Towards the end of the chapter his compassionate
regard for suffering humanity is hymned in verses of uncommon pathos and
beauty:
O you, whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are friendly,
3
Saddharmapundarikasutram, p.155.
Page 27 of 150
Whose eyes betray distinguished wisdom-knowledge;

Whose eyes are pitiful, whose eyes are pure,
O you, so lovable, with beautiful face, with beautiful eyes!
Your lustre is spotless and immaculate,
Your knowledge without darkness, your splendour like the sun,
Radiant like the blaze of a fire not disturbed by the wind,
Warming the world you shine splendidly.
Eminent in your pity, friendly in your words,
One great mass of fine virtues and friendly thoughts,
You appease the fire of defilements which burn beings,
And you rain down the rain of the deathless Dharma.
Then read Chapters 7-10, and 25 of the Stra in one or another of its full translations, as
well as Edward Conzes translation of the Bodhisattva Akayamatis famous paean of
praise to Avalokitevara, reproduced below. As you read reflect on one or more of the
questions below:
1. What are the significant different emphases between the Parable of the Drunkard
and the Jewel and the Myth of the Return Journey? Which elements of the
parable do you most identify with, and why? What kind of spiritual issues do they
pose for you? Do they bring out any fresh perspectives on how to envisage the
notion of lower and higher self?
2. As symbols, what do you make of sleep and drunkenness? How do you relate
to them personally?
3. In what ways does the symbolism of the jewel appeal to you?
4. What are your personal responses to the Bodhisattva Avalokitevara? Is a
Bodhisattva particularly associated with compassion meaningful to you? Explore
your personal responses to the myth of Avalokitevaras birth (attached in the
Appendix) what do you make of the 11 headed, 1000-armed form?
5. Avalokitevaras mantra can be literally translated as The Jewel in the Lotus what does this suggest to you? Can you explain how a mantra works? How do you
respond to the idea that symbols are not necessarily visual? What place do you see
for music?

Page 28 of 150
In the group
1. Assigning parts to different readers, read aloud Chapters 7, 8, 10 of the Stra from
the Abridgement (reproduced in the Appendix).
Devotion To Avalokitevara
Strong in fine knowledge, Avalokitevara surveys
Beings afflicted by countless ills,
And by many ills oppressed.
He thus becomes the Saviour of the worlds with its gods.
He has reached perfection in wonder-working power,
He is trained in abundant cognition and skill in means.
Everywhere in all the ten directions of the world,
In all the Buddha fields he can be seen.
And the terrors of the untoward and bad re-births,
In hells, in brute creation, and in Yamas kingdom,
And the oppressions from birth, old age, and sickness,
Will slowly come to an end for living beings.
Thereupon the Bodhisattva Akayamati, joyous and contented in his heart,
Spoke these verses:
O you, whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are friendly,

Whose eyes betray distinguished wisdom knowledge;
Whose eyes are pitiful, whose eyes are pure,
O you, so lovable, with beautiful face, with beautiful eyes!

Page 29 of 150
Your lustre is spotless and immaculate,

Your knowledge without darkness,
Your splendour like the sun,
Radiant like the blaze of a fire not disturbed by the wind.
Eminent in your pity, friendly in your words,
One great mass of fine virtues and friendly thoughts,
You appease the fire of the defilements which burn beings,
And you rain down the rain of the deathless Dharma.
In quarrels, disputes and strife,
In battles of mean, and in any great danger,
To recollect the name of Avalokitevara,
Will appease the troops of evil foes.
His voice is like that of a cloud or drum;
Like a rain-cloud he thunders, sweet in voice like Brahma.
His voice is the most perfect that can be,
So one should recall Avalokitevara.
Think of Him, think of Him, without hesitation,
Of Avalokitevara, that pure being.
In death, disaster and calamity,
He is the saviour, refuge and recourse.
As he who has reached perfection in all virtues,
Who looks on all beings with pity and friendliness,
Who is virtue itself, a great ocean of virtues,
As such Avalokitevara is worthy of adoration.
He who is now so compassionate to the world,
He will be a Buddha in future ages,
Humbly I bow to Avalokitevara
Who destroys all sorrows, fear and suffering.
Page 30 of 150
Saddharma-puarka, XXIV, vv 17-27

Conze, Horner, Snellgrove, Waley (Eds.), Buddhist Texts through the Ages, Harper &
Row, London, 1954, pp.194-6

Page 31 of 150
Unit 7 Symbols of Life and Growth

Aim
To explore as fully as we can the difference in how we personally experience the
implications of two common contrasting symbols for spiritual life: a) organic,
spatial symbols, e.g. an unfolding lotus, b) temporal ones such as the path and the
journey?
Preparation
After the parables and myths of the chapters so far, we now encounter one of the most
enduring of Buddhist poetic images, no less potent and dramatic. To mine its riches, we
need to bring a fine sensibility to bear.
Here are the relevant paragraphs from p.113-4 of The Eternal Legacy recapitulating
Chapter 5 of the Stra.
Praising the four elders for their discernment, the Buddha explains that the
qualities of the Tathgata are beyond calculation. Knowing as he does both the
Absolute Truth and the inmost hearts of sentient beings, he leads them into the
way of Supreme Enlightenment by tactfully adapting his teachings to their
individual dispositions and capacities. This procedure is illustrated by two
parables:
A dense raincloud arises, its moisture universally fertilising the plants, shrubs, and
trees; but though nourished by the same rain, and springing from a common soil,
all these grow according to their own species, and bring forth different kinds of
flowers and fruits. In the same way the Buddha preaches one universal Dharma,
but sentient beings are benefited by it in accordance with their different capacities.
Again as the sun shines on all alike, making no distinction of great or small, high
or low, so the Buddha diffuses over all beings impartially the Light of Truth.
At this point Mahkyapa raises various questions, which the Buddha answers
with the help of two more parables. According to the first of these the differences
of nomenclature between the three ynas is comparable to that between, for
example, a curd-jar, a butter-jar, and so on, which derive their respective
designations from their contents; the jars themselves being the same. Even so,
though the Buddha-yna is one only, three ynas are spoken of by the Tathgatas
by reason of the difference of mental endowment among sentient beings. In the
second parable, a blind man after having his eyesight restored, by a skilful
physician, is urged to acquire, by means of meditation, the still more powerful
supernormal vision of the Saint. Just as ordinary eyesight occupies an intermediate
place between blindness and yogic vision, so the Nirva of the Arhats constitutes
a respite on the way from a state of spiritual ignorance to the final and complete
illumination of a Buddha. Ultimately there is one Nirva for the followers of all
three ynas, not three separate Nirvanas (Chapter V).
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Read Chapter Five of the Stra. As you do so reflect on one, or more, of the questions
below:
1. In what sense could it be said that you yourself are becoming a living symbol of
life and growth? For example, do you feel the impact of the Dharma on you in the
same way as a plant responds to rain and sun? What sort of plant, as it were, are
you? What is particularly characteristic to the way you grow and develop? You
might like to draw, paint a picture, or write some lines, or find some other way to
express your experience of this.
2. In what ways have you, or are you, changing as a consequence of meeting the
Dharma? How do you experience this? What stages of growth or development
have you experienced? Is it helpful to express this poetically? Are there any
other spatial symbols, images, myths, archetypes that express this well for you?
3. What do you think is the significance of the plant imagery compared to that of the
journey? How does the contrast between your experience of being on a spiritual
journey with that of being a living symbol of life and growth impact on you? Do
you experience any paradox or conflict in this? Is it a productive tension? Can you
see any limitations or advantages to the plant imagery?
In the group
Abridgement.
members of the group may wish to share from engaging with material in the
Appendix.

Page 33 of 150
Unit 8 The Revelation of Abundant Treasures

Aim
To deepen our understanding and appreciation of the unfolding events and elements
within chapter 11 of the Stra.
Preparation
Read the relevant paragraphs of The Eternal Legacy, pp.117-120, reproduced below.:
This assurance having been given, we come to the impressively dramatic scene of
the whole marvellous pageant. Suddenly there springs up from the earth, and
towers into the sky, a Stpa of stupendous size and unbelievable magnificence.
Made of the seven precious things, and most superbly adorned, its light, fragrance
and music fill the entire earth. From the midst of the Stpa there comes a mighty
voice praising kyamuni for his preaching of the Saddharma-puarka bearing
witness to the truth of all that he has said. In response to the enquir y of
Mahpratibhna or Great Eloquence, a Bodhisattva, kyamuni explains that the
Stpa contains the entire body of an ancient Buddha called Prabhtaratna or
Abundant Treasures, who, ages ago, had made a vow that, after his parinirva,
his Stpa would spring forth wherever the Saddharma-puarka was being
expounded, so that he would bear testimony to the truth of its teaching.
The assembly is naturally desirous of beholding the actual body of the Tathgata,
miraculously preserved within the Stpa but according to another vow made by
Prabhtaratna, if a Buddha in whose presence his Stpa has sprung forth is
desirous of showing him to his disciples, that Buddha must first of all cause all the
Buddhas who have emanated from him, and who are preaching the Dharma
throughout the universe, to return and assemble in one place. To fulfil this
condition, kyamuni emanates a ray which illuminates innumerable pure
Buddha-fields in the ten directions of space, revealing the Buddhas there.
Knowing the significance of the summons, each of them informs the host of his
Bodhisattvas that they must go to the Sah-world and worship kyamuni Buddha
and the Stpa of the Tathgata Abundant Treasures. Thereupon the Sah-world
is instantly purified for their reception. The earth, transformed into the blue
radiance of lapis lazuli, becomes adorned with jewel-trees, and marked off in
squares with golden cords. Gods and men, other than those of the congregation,
are translated elsewhere; villages, towns, mountains, rivers and forests disappear.
The earth smokes with incense, and its ground is strewn with heavenly flowers.
To a world so purified come five hundred Buddhas, each attended by a great
Bodhisattva, and take their seats on five hundred magnificent lion-thrones beneath
as many jewel-trees. All the available space in the world-system is thus already
exhausted, and the Buddhas who have emanated from kyamuni Buddha have
hardly begun to arrive. In the same way that he has already purified and
transformed the Sah-world, the latter therefore purifies for the reception of the
Page 34 of 150
incoming multitudes untold millions of worlds in the eight directions of space.

Only when all these Buddhas have arrived, taken their seats beneath the
innumerable jewel-trees, and worshipped him each with a double handful of jewelflowers does kyamuni, understanding the desire of the congregation, ascend into
the sky and with a sound like thunder open the door of the Stpa.
Seated in his entire body, within, as though meditating, they see the Buddha
Prabhtaratna, who, lifting up his voice, again commends kyamuni. Awestruck,
the congregation praises the unprecedented marvel, and scatters over the two
Buddhas heaps of celestial jewel-flowers. Prabhtaratna invites kyamuni to
share his throne. Seeing the two Buddhas seated side by side in the Stpa, far
above their heads, the congregation desires to be raised to the same level.
Whereupon, by his supernormal power, kyamuni receives the whole assembly
into the sky, at the same time demanding, in a loud voice: Who is able to declare
the Saddharma-puarka Stra in this Sah-world? Now indeed is the time. The
Tathgata not long hence must enter Nirva. The Buddha desires to bequeath this
Saddharma-puarka Stra, so that it may endure for ever.4
Before anyone can reply there occurs the episode, or rather the group of episodes,
that constitutes Chapter XII of Kumrajvas Chinese version. In the extant
Sanskrit text this forms the latter half of the previous chapter. Interrupting to some
extent the continuity of the action, it may well be an interpolation; though in
spirit and style it fully accords with the text as so far delivered. The Buddha
recounts how, in one of his previous existences, he had as a king sacrificed
possessions, body and life itself for the sake of the Dharma. Eventually, after
abdicating in favour of his son and making a public proclamation offering himself
as a servant to whosoever would teach him a Great Vehicle, he had received the
Saddharma-puarka from a hermit. This hermit was none other than Devadatta
who also, the Buddha now predicts, in the far distant future will become a
Tathgata. Numerous advantages, moreover, will accrue from the hearing of this
Devadatta Chapter of the Stra.
At this point occurs an interruption. Emerging from the Nadir, a Bodhisattva
named Prajka, or Wisdom-Heap, solicits the return of Prabhtaratna to his
own world-system. At kyamunis request, however, the latter stays to have a
talk with Majur, who arrives on a thousand-petalled lotus-flower from the Nga
Palace in the depths of the ocean, where he had converted innumerable beings. In
the course of conversation it transpires that his most gifted pupil is the eight -yearold daughter of the Nga king, who has, so the great Bodhisattva declares, the
power of speedily attaining Buddhahood. Prajka doubts this; but the princess
appears in person before them, and extols the Buddha in verse. riputra is still
more sceptical, doubting not only that she should be able to attain Buddhahood
speedily, but that a woman should be capable of such an achievement at all.
However, the princess transforms herself into a male Bodhisattva who, going
4
The Lotus of the Wonderful Law, p.163.

Page 35 of 150
instantly to a distant world-system, attains Supreme Enlightenment there and

preaches the Dharma.
Both these episodes illustrate the universality of the Mahyna, from the benefits
of which even evil-doers like Devadatta are not excluded, and within whose
embrace superficial differences such as those of age and sex have no significance
(Chapter XI).
Read one or another of the full translations of Chapter 11. As you do so reflect on one, or
more, of the questions below:
1. What do you make of the dramatic action in Ch.11 of the Stra? How do you make
sense of the Buddha Abundant Treasures appearance and his vow? What does this
all mean?
2. Spend some time looking at photos of different Stpas, and exploring your
response to them; Google has a wealth of images.
3. What do you make of Stpa-worship? Is the Stpa just a funereal reliquary, or can
you get a feeling for how it embodies the continuing presence of Enlightened
Ones?
4. In what sense does the Stpa work as a symbol for you? Can you see how it could
be a symbol of the synthesis of Path and Goal for you?
In the group
Abridgement.
members of the group may wish to share from engaging with material in the
Appendix.

Page 36 of 150
Unit 9 The Eternal Buddha

Aim
In this, and the next unit, we pursue the meaning of the revelation of the Buddha s Eternal
Enlightenment as portrayed through the symbolism of the Lotus Stras climactic
chapters.
Preparation
Read the relevant paragraphs from Chapter Nine of The Eternal Legacy, (pp.120-124):
...No sooner are they over, than a response to kyamunis demand for persons
able to declare the Stra is forthcoming. Bhaiajyarja and another Bodhisattva,
appropriately called Mahpratibhna, or Great Eloquence, declare their readiness
to preserve and propagate it throughout the world-system after his parinirva.
Even in the evil age to come, they promise, when beings would be difficult to
convert, they will patiently propagate this Stra, pay it every kind of homage, and
be unsparing of body and life. All the Arhats who have been predicted to
Buddhahood pledge themselves to do likewise. Seeing Mahprajpati Gautami and
Yaodhar standing disconsolate, as no prediction has been made concerning
them, kyamuni not only assures his foster-mother and former wife that they
were included in his previous prediction of the entire assembly to Buddhahood but
now gives them each an individual prediction, whereupon, amidst universal
rejoicings, they undertake to preserve and propagate the Stra throughout all
world-systems except the Sah-world, which has already been covered by the
preceding vows.
Finally, having appealed in vain for an absolute directive from the Buddha, the
Irreversible Bodhisattvas announce their determination to disseminate it
throughout the world-systems in all the directions of space. These various
promises given, the assembly in unison begs the Buddha to have no anxiety about
the future of the Stra, assuring him that despite abuse, calumny and persecution,
it will proclaim it in the dreadful dark age to come (Chapter XII).
Majur points out that this is a tremendous responsibility. The Buddha, agreeing
with him, declares that in order to accomplish their mission the Bodhisattvas will
have to be endowed with four qualities (dharmas). They must, (i) be perfect in
their conduct (cra), (ii) confine themselves to their proper sphere of activity,
avoiding unsuitable company, and dwelling inwardly in the true nature of Reality,
(iii) maintain a happy, peaceful state of mind (sukhasthita), unaffected by zeal or
envy, and (iv) cultivate feelings of love (maitr) towards all sentient beings. These
are explained in detail, the exposition constituting a fine description not only of
the ideal preacher of the Stra, but also, in effect, of the perfect monk as
conceived by the Mahyna. Endowed with such qualities, the Buddha tells the
assembly, a Bodhisattva will be able to gain a hearing from all classes of people,
from kings and ministers to ordinary householders. He impresses upon the minds
Page 37 of 150
of his auditors the unique value of the Stra committed to their charge by means of
the following parable:
Desirous of extending his domains, a great Wheel-rolling (cakravarti) king goes
to war. His soldiers fight heroically, so that well pleased with their conduct the
king bestows upon them, according to their desert, all manner of things by way of
reward, from houses and lands, including whole cities, to gorgeous apparel, slaves,
conveyances, and treasures of gold, silver and gems. Only the crown-jewel on his
head he gives to none. Even so the Tathgata, pleased with the conduct of his
disciples in the holy war against Mara, graces them with spiritual gifts such as the
meditations, the emancipations and the powers, together with the whole wealth of
the Dharma. In addition, he gives them the city of Nirva. Yet he does not yet
preach to them the Saddharma-puarka Stra. However, just as the king, seeing
the valour of his troops, eventually bestows upon them even the priceless crownjewel itself, so the Tathgata, beholding the exploits of his spiritual warriors, at
last reveals to them this supreme Stra (Chapter XIII).
The great Bodhisattvas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, who have come
with their Buddhas from the other world-systems, now offer their services to
kyamuni in his Buddha-field. Telling them that their help is not required, the
latter declares that he has in his Sah-world innumerable Bodhisattvas who will be
able, after his parinirva, to protect and keep, read and recite, and preach abroad
the Stra. At this the universe trembles and quakes, and from the space below the
earth there issues a great host of Irreversible Bodhisattvas all accompanied by
their retinues. Advancing one by one, they salute in turn all the Buddhas,
beginning with kyamuni and Prabhtaratna, and then glorify them in various
hymns. So numerous are the Bodhisattvas that these proceedings occupy fifty
minor kalpas, during which time the whole assembly remains silent; but through
the supernormal power of kyamuni the period seems but half a day. An
exchange of civilities follows between kyamuni and the four leaders of the vast
host.
Maitreya and the disciples, who all this while have been amazed at the sudden
apparition of all these unknown Bodhisattvas, ask whence they have sprung and
how kyamuni can claim them for his own. The disciples of the other Buddhas
present put each to their own Buddha the same question. Approving their
enquiries, and urging them to be resolute, kyamuni tells Maitreya:
Ajita! Know thou!
These great Bodhisattvas,
Who, from past numberless Kalpas,
Have observed the Buddha wisdom,
All of these are my converts,
Whose minds I have set on the Great Way.
Page 38 of 150
These Bodhisattvas are my sons

Who dwell in this Buddha-world.
Ever practising the Dhuta deeds,
Joyfully devoted to quiet places,
Shunning the clamour of crowds,
With no pleasure in many words.
All these sons of mine,
Learning and keeping the Law of my Way,
Are always zealous day and night,
For the sake of seeking Buddhahood;
They dwell below the Sah-world,
In the region of space beneath it.
Firm in their powers of will and memory,
Ever diligent in seeking wisdom,
They preach every kind of mystic law,
Their minds devoid of any fear.
I, near the city of Gaya,
Sitting beneath the Bodhi-tree,
Accomplished Perfect Enlightenment;
And rolling the supreme Law-wheel,
I then taught and converted them
And caused them to seek the One Way.
Now they all abide in the never-relapsing state,
And every one will become a Buddha.5
This declaration serves only to increase the perplexity of Maitreya and the
disciples. How is it possible, they wonder, that the Master should have instructed
so great a host in so short a time? They remind him that only fifty years have
passed since his own enlightenment beneath the Bodhi-tree, yet he is claiming to
have converted and trained an incalculable host of Bodhisattvas belonging, it
would seem, to past ages and other world-systems. It is as though a young man of
twenty-five should claim centenarians as his sons, and the latter acknowledge him
as their father (Chapter XIV).
5
Ibid, pp.196-197
Page 39 of 150
In reply to these questions kyamuni now makes his grand revelation. The scene
is therefore the climax of the entire spiritual drama of the Saddharma-puarka,
up to which the preceding scenes have led, and the truths of which their teachings
have to some extent foreshadowed. Herein kyamuni reveals himself as being,
sub specie aeternitatis, the Eternal Buddha; or rather, the Eternal Buddha reveals
himself as kyamuni and all the other Buddhas, who are not independent entities
but the various guises under which he, the Supreme Reality, appears at different
places and in different ages.
All the worlds of Gods, men and asuras declare: Now has kyamuni-Buddha,
coming forth from the palace of the kya-clan, and seated at the place of
enlightenment, not far from the city of Gaya, attained to Perfect Enlightenment,
But, good sons, since I veritably became Buddha, there have passed infinite,
boundless, hundreds, thousands, myriads, kotis, nayutas of kalpas. [That is to say,
he is eternally enlightened.] 6 From that time forward I have constantly been
preaching and teaching in this Sah-world, and also leading and benefitting the
living in other places in hundreds, thousands, myriads, kotis, nayutas of
numberless domains.7
He it was who, according to the dispositions of beings, had created Dpakara and
other Buddhas, and made them, as an expedient, deliver discourses and attain
parinirva. Appearing as kyamuni, he tells beings of his birth in the world and
of how, retiring from the household life as a youth, he had attained sambodhi. Had
he announced that he had become a Buddha millions of years ago it would not
have produced a favourable effect on peoples minds. Nevertheless he was not
guilty of falsehood, because a Tathgata viewed the universe as devoid of
origination and cessation, without rebirth or parinirva, neither existent nor nonexistent, neither real nor unreal, neither the same nor different. His viewpoint
being completely different from that of an ordinary person it does not constitute a
lie when, in order to teach the Dharma to beings of different conduct, aspirations
and ideas, he has recourse to various expedients. In reality the life of a Tathgata
is unlimited; he never dies. ...
Read Chapters 14 and 15 of the Stra. Reflect on one, or more, of the questions below:
1. Who are these emanations? How do you find the enormous vistas that the Stra
speaks of? How are we to relate to them?
2. Do you share Maitreyas doubts? Are you convinced by the Buddhas reply?
3. The opening verse of Blakes Augeries of Innocence reads:
Ibid. pp.200-201. Cf. Saddharma-Purldarlia or The Lotus of the True Law translated by H. Kern (Oxford 1984), 'The Sacred Books of the
East' Volume XXI, pp.288-289.
7
The Lotus of the Wonderful Law, p.289.
Page 40 of 150

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
Explore any affinity you see between this vision and that expressed in the Stra.
4. Read the prcis below of excerpts (given in the Appendix) taken from two of
Sangharakshitas lectures, and reflect on the themes of Eternity and Time,
Buddha and Bodhisattva; discuss your responses, questions and doubts. How do
you relate to the concept of Eternity and an Eternal Buddha? Isnt this simply
eternalism via the back door? What does it mean to say that the path and goal are
discontinuous? How does all this affect your understanding of Chapter 11 in the
Stra, and the Revelation of Abundant Treasures?
We usually and up to a point quite justifiably think of the Buddha as a

historical figure, and this is quite correct as far as it goes. And we think of the
Buddhas attainment of Enlightenment as a historical event that took place two
thousand five hundred years ago. We regard the Buddhas attainment of
Enlightenment as something occurring in time, within this dimension of time. And
so long as we make it clear that we are speaking popularly, conventionally, then
this isnt altogether wrong.
While Buddhahood can be regarded as the culmination of the evolutionary
process, a culmination that is reached through and by means of personal effort, if
we go on to think of Buddhahood itself as existing in time, this is quite wrong.
This is altogether wrong because although the Buddha is a historical person,
Buddhahood itself exists outside time. Buddhahood exists in what we call the
dimension of eternity, a new dimension beyond time and beyond the evolutionary
process.
Likewise it is only too easy to think of the Bodhisattvas Path and the Bodhisattva
goal in the same sort of way, rather literally. Its only too easy to think of the
Bodhisattvas path, leading up, as it were, to Buddhahood as though to the door of
a house. We think of the Bodhisattva as going along step by step, stage by stage,
and one day he comes up against this great and wonderful door or gateway of
Nirvana, all glistening and pearly and golden and there it is, just like coming t o the
door of a house, and he just enters, he just goes in.
But it isnt really like that at all. When you come to the end of the Bodhisattva
path, when you come in fact to the end of the spiritual path, you dont find a gate,
you dont find a doorway - you dont find any sort of house, any sort of spiritual,
any sort of celestial mansion waiting for you. So what do you find? When you get
to the end of the path, you dont find anything at all theres just nothing there.
The path just ends. The path just comes to an end. The path just stops, and there
you are at the end of the path with nothing there. The path, as Ive said, just ends.
Page 41 of 150
So you find yourself, as it were, (again a metaphor so dont start taking it

literally), you find yourself at the edge of a precipice. The path has gone on nicely,
step by step, stage by stage, mile after mile, and you had counted all those
milestones, and you were expecting to arrive in comfort at the door, the entrance
of a great house, a mansion, but no - you find that the path ends right at the edge
of a precipice. And there you are standing right on the edge of the precipice, and
the precipice goes down not just a few feet, or even a few miles, it just goes down
to infinity. Now what is one to do?
The Bodhisattva represents the dimension of time, because - obviously - the
Bodhisattva path is followed in time. Its something that happens, that has a past,
and a present and a future; it doesnt go beyond time. But the Buddha represents
the dimension of eternity. The Buddha represents the goal, and the goal is gained
out of time. One reaches the end of the path in time, but one shouldnt think that
one attains the goal in time: one can attain the goal out of time or one can put it
another way and say that the goal is eternally attained.
The Buddha says, Dont think that I was Enlightened forty years ago. That is just
your way of looking at it. I am eternally Enlightened. And when the Buddha
makes that statement its the eternal Buddha speaking or Buddhahood itself
speaking, not any particular person, not any particular individual, however great.
So when the Saddharma-puarka Stra speaks in terms of the eternal Buddha,
one is not to understand the word eternal in the sense of indefinitely prolonged in
time, but rather in the sense of being outside time altogether.
We have therefore two principles: weve a principle of Buddhahood out of time, in
the dimension of eternity, and weve a principle of Bodhisattvahood in the
dimension of time. One, the principle of Buddhahood, eternity is transcendent.
The other, the principle of Bodhisattvahood, in time, the principle of growth,
evolution, development, is immanent. The one, the first represents perfection
eternally complete, eternally achieved. The other represents perfection
everlastingly in process of achievement, in the world order, through the
evolutionary process. And the two are discontinuous. The one does not lead into
the other. They are discontinuous, discrete.
Now the question that arises is, Can we leave them like this? Is this the last word
that can be said on the subject, that here youve got Buddha, there youve got
Bodhisattva, there youve got eternity, there youve got time, discontinuous,
discrete. Is this the last word that can be said on the subject? Well certainly not
according to the Mahyna, and especially not according to the Tantra. Theres no
question though of merging one into the other. The solution isnt as easy as that. It
isnt saying, Well time is illusory, merge it in eternity, or, Eternity is illusory,
merge it in time. No. They both are, irreducibly there Buddhahood,
Bodhisattvahood, eternity, time they cant be merged, the one in the other.

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Rather, according to the Mahyna and again especially according to the Tantra,
its a question of realizing both of them simultaneously. In other words realizing
Buddha and Bodhisattva simultaneously, eternity and time simultaneously. Seeing
everything as eternally achieved and at the same time eternally in process of
achievement. Seeing that these two do not contradict each other. One may say one
has to see that everything moves but nothing moves. The two are there both, in a
sense, contradictory - movement but no movement - but theyre both there - one
can deny neither of them.
In the same way, one may say the Buddha sits eternally beneath the Bodhi tree.
The Buddha has always sat beneath the Bodhi tree and always will sit. At the same
time the Bodhisattva is eternally practising the pramits, the Perfections, life after
life to infinity, and that these two, Buddha and Bodhisattva, represent different
aspects of one - one might even say the same Reality. Reality as existing out of
time in, as it were, eternity, and Reality as progressively revealed in time.
In the group
1. Assigning parts to different readers, read aloud Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the
Stra (up to just prior to the Parable of the Good Physician) from the
Abridgement.

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Unit 10 The Parable of the Good Physician

Aim
This unit focuses on the Parable of the Good Physician, told by the Buddha to illustrate
his skilful means in entering parinirva.
Preparation
reproduced here, from Chapter Nine of Sangharakshitas The Eternal Legacy, pp.124126:
...In reality the life of a Tathgata is unlimited; he never dies. Were he to remain
constantly among men, however, familiarity would breed contempt, and beings
would become arrogant and lazy. In order to increase their longing for his
presence, he tactfully tells them that the appearance of a Tathgata in the world is
a rare occurrence and manifests the phenomenon of entering into parinirva. This
is illustrated by a parable:
An eminent physician who has been away for a long time returns home to find his
sons suffering from the effects of poisoning. Happy to see their father again, they
ask him to cure them. While some of the sons take the medicines he prescribes and
are restored to health, others, who are deeply affected by the poison, refuse to do
so. In order to bring the latter to their senses the physician therefore retires to a
distant country and sends them word of his death. The shock produces the desired
effect. Realising that they are now orphans with no one to help them, the sons take
the medicines their father had left behind and are cured. Hearing of their recovery,
the physician later on returns and shows himself to them still alive. Being actuated
by a desire to benefit others, neither the Buddha nor the physician can be accused
of falsehood (Chapter XV) (p.125).
The effect of this revelation on the congregation is profound. Vast hosts,
innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, attain various spiritual insights and
powers. All the while flowers, incense and jewels, together with other precious
things, fall in showers on the assembly; celestial canopies are raised on high, and
countless Bodhisattvas sing the praises of the Buddhas. kyamuni then tells
Maitreya that the merit of developing faith in the Eternal Life of the Tathgata, as
just revealed, incalculably surpasses that of cultivating the first five pramits
throughout infinite ages. Besides exceeding in value all formal religious
observances, whether erecting Stpas, temples, or monasteries, such faith in fact
renders them superfluous. Possessing such faith one will see the Buddha on the
Spiritual Vulture-Peak surrounded by the celestial host ever preaching this
Dharma. He will see, too, the realm in which he lives resplendent with palaces and
jewels. By the preservation and propagation of the Stra, in conjunction with the
practice of the first five pramits, infinite merit will be gained and one will
speedily reach Perfect Knowledge.
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He adds: If any one reads and recites, receives and keeps this Stra, preaches it to
other people, or himself copies it, or causes others to copy it; moreover, is able to
erect Stpas and monasteries, and to serve and extol the rvaka-monks, and also
with hundreds, thousands, myriads, kotis of ways of extolling, extols the merits of
the Bodhisattvas; also if he to other people, with various reasonings, according to
its meaning, expounds this Law-Flower Stra; again, if he is able to keep the
commandments in purity, amicably to dwell with the gentle, to endure insult
without anger, to be firm in will and thought, ever to value meditation, to attain to
profound concentration, zealously and boldly to support the good, to be clever and
wise in ably answering difficult questionings... those people have proceeded
towards the Wisdom-terrace, and are near to Perfect Enlightenment, sitting under
the tree of enlightenment.8
So great is the value of the Stra that one who preaches it is to be venerated as the
Buddha himself, and a Stpa erected wherever he expounds as much as a phrase of
the sacred text (Chapter XVI)
Read the Parable of the Good Physician in Chapter 15 of the Stra. As you do so, reflect
on one or more of the questions below:
1. How do you make sense of the Buddhas claim in the Stra that he does not enter
extinction, and only appears to do so as a skilful means?
2. What is the spiritual significance of prominent elements of the parable, e.g. the
father going to a distant country, the sons becoming delirious from drinking the
fathers medicines, the sons saying they dont want to be cured, and their grief at
the fathers death? What do you make of the claim that if the Buddha were here all
the time, we would not appreciate him, nor follow the Dharma?
3. How do you respond to the notion of humanity being psychologically and
spiritually sick, and the Dharma as medicine? What are the benefits and
limitations of seeing life from this perspective? How does this contrast with the
imagery of The Burning House?
4. Sangharakshita says in his commentary that the main point of the parable is that
we are on our own, and that we are most likely to develop when we realize this.
What do you make of this? How do you reconcile this with the importance of
Sangha?
5. C. G. Jung defined archetypes as basic psychic patterns common to all humanity,
expressed in myths, religions, dreams and creative works of individuals. The same
pattern expresses itself in different forms through different cultures and
individuals; any sensory object serving as image, through which an archetype
expresses itself. Sangharakshita extends the meaning envisaging a stratification of
successive stages of unfoldment, or manifestation, of an archetype. Archetypes
8
ibid. p.213
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exist ultimately on a transcendental level, only fully realised in Enlightenment.

Prior to that we encounter them through their expression on successively lower
planes of the a-/rpalokas as subtle visions, and as emerging in sensory
experience as mythic, symbolic images of human cultures. The Parable of the
Good Physician embodies the archetype of the Divine Healer, as discussed in
Sangharakshitas The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment, chapter 8. In what ways
do you connect with this? Are there any particular images that particularly appeal
to you conveying something of this archetype? For example: medicine man,
shaman, guru?
In the group
1. Assigning parts to different readers, read aloud the Parable of the Good
Physician (Chapter 16) from the Abridgement.

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White Lotus Stra Appendix

Introduction
This Appendix is large, principally because it contains an Abridgement of the Lotus
Stra. Aside from that, it aims to provide some extra reading material, suggestions for
further reading and talks to listen to, group and project work, and more questions. It is a
bit of a treasure-trove, full of all sorts, to support those who wish to take their exploration
of the Stra further, to spark you off and get you going. So use only what is useful and
appeals to you. Being arranged by unit to reflect material that is relevant to each unit,
youll find some material, especially references, is repeated.
A very obvious next step in taking your understanding of the Stra further is to read
Sangharakshitas The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of
the White Lotus Stra. This is an excellent introduction and commentary. It also has some
very good material arising out of question and answer sessions with Sangharakshita.
Suggested reference materials
Course texts
Cittapala, The White Lotus Stra Abridged, 1999, in this Appendix see below, or
www.cittapala.org.
Primary sources
Bunno Kato, Yoshira Tamura, & Kojiro Miyasaka, (trans.), The Threefold Lotus Stra,
Weatherhill/Kosei, New York, 1980.
http://tinyurl.com/yzs7hw5
Hurvitz, L., (trans.), Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, Columbia
University Press, New York, 1976.
http://tinyurl.com/yjvupp9
Reeves, G., (trans.), The Lotus Stra, Wisdom, Somerville, MA, 2008.
(US) http://tinyurl.com/yjgp6bu
(UK) http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetail.asp?PID=18578
Watson, B., (trans.), The Lotus Stra, Columbia University Press, Chichester, 1993.
http://tinyurl.com/yd3ycqk

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General background
Nagapriya, Visions of Mahyna Buddhism, Windhorse, Cambridge, 2009 (particularly
Chps. 1-4).
Sangharakshita, Parables, Myths and Symbols of Mahyna Buddhism in the White Lotus
Stra, Dharmachakra Archives, 1971.
http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/series/details?ser=X12
Sangharakshita, The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of
the White Lotus Stra, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1993.
Sangharakshita, The Bodhisattva Ideal Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism,
Windhorse, 1999.
Subhuti, Chapter 2: The Unity of Buddhism in Sangharakshita: A New Voice in the
Buddhist Tradition, Windhorse, 1998.
Unit 1 How to read the Stra
Sangharakshita, The Glory of the Literary World Reflections on the Buddhist Canonical
Literature in The Priceless Jewel (pp.159-175), Windhorse, Glasgow, 1999.
http://www.sangharakshita.org/_books/The%20Priceless%20Jewel.pdf
Audio: http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=165
Sangharakshita, The Journey to Il Convento (pp.47-91) in The Priceless Jewel,
Windhorse, Glasgow, 1993 .
Sangharakshita, The Religion of Art, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1990.

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Subhuti, Chapter 10: The Psychology of Spiritual Life (p.273ff), in Sangharakshita: A

New Voice in the Buddhist Tradition, Windhorse, Birmingham.
See above.
Unit 2 The Mahynas stance
Ray, R.A., Buddhist Saints in India A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations,
Oxford University Press, 1994.
http://tinyurl.com/y9sec39
Sangharakshita, A Survey of Buddhism, particularly Chapter 2: The Trikaya Doctrine and
The Two Truths pp.277-292, and Chapter 3, parts four and five, pp.340-368. Windhorse,
1993.
Williams P. with Antony Tribe, Chapters 3-6 in Buddhist Thought, Routledge, 2000.
http://tinyurl.com/yf56k9k
Williams, P., Mahyna Buddhism, Routledge, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/yj94axy
Unit 3 The Saddharmapuarka
Sangharakshita, Chapter 9: The White Lotus of the True Dharma (pp.103-131) in The
Eternal Legacy, Windhorse.
Sangharakshita, Chapter 2: The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment in The Drama of
Windhorse, Glasgow.
See above.
Unit 4 Transcending The Human Predicament
Ratnaguna, Abundance in the White Lotus Stra, Madhyamavani No.1, Spring 1999:
http://madhyamavani.fwbo.org/1/lotus.html
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Sangharakshita, Chapter 3: Transcending the Human Predicament in The Drama of

See above.
Unit 5 The Myth of the Return Journey
Sangharakshita, Chapter 4: The Myth of the Return Journey in Sangharakshita, The
Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra,
See above.
Sangharakshita, Chapter 3: On Being All Things to All Men in The Inconceivable
Emapancipation Themes from the Vimalakirti-Nirdesa, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1995.
Unit 6 The Jewel in the Lotus
Sangharakshita, The Priceless Jewel (pp.7-16), in The Priceless Jewel, Windhorse,
Glasgow, 1993.
See above.
Sangharakshita, Chapter 7: The Jewel in the Lotus in The Drama of Cosmic
Enlightenment: Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra, Windhorse
Publications, Glasgow, 1993.
See above.
Unit 7 Symbols of Life and Growth
Sangharakshita, Chapter 5: Symbols of Life and Growth in The Drama of Cosmic
See above.
Its worth seeing if you can find Dr. Conzes translation of this section of the Stra in
Conze, Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies, Ch.5: The Lotus of the Good Law On Plants,
p.105-113, as well as a shorter, poetically evocative translation (p.139-40) in Conze,
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Horner, Snellgrove, Waley, (Eds.), Buddhist Texts Through the Ages, Harper, London,
1964.
http://openlibrary.org/b/OL9070658M/Thirty_Years_of_Buddhist_Studies
http://tinyurl.com/yjosm2c
Unit 8 The Revelation of Abundant Treasures
Sangharakshita, Chapter 6: Five Element Symbolism and the Stupa in The Drama of
Windhorse Publications, Glasgow, 1993.
See above.
Unit 9 The Eternal Buddha
Sangharakshita, Chapter 8: The Buddha and the Bodhisattva: Eternity and Time
(p.202ff) in The Bodhisattva Ideal Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism, Windhorse,
1999.
Unit 10 The Parable of the Good Physician
Sangharakshita, Chapter 8: The Archetype of the Divine Healer in The Drama of
Windhorse Publications, Glasgow, 1993.
See above.
Sangharakshita, St. Jerome Revisited (pp.47-91) in The Priceless Jewel, Windhorse,
Glasgow, 1993.
See above.
Audio: http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=164

Page 51 of 150
Appendix: Unit 1 How to read the Stra

Reread the following excerpt from the first few pages of Part 1, Week 5, The Buddha
The Mythic Buddha, from the Foundation Year of the Triratna Dharma Training Course
for Mitras, pp. 30-4:
Introduction
For Buddhists in the East the life story of the Buddha is much more than a historical
account it is a poetic myth full of profound meanings that resonate in the depths of the
mind. In the following text Sangharakshita looks at a number of these mythic elements in
the story of the Buddha, bringing out some aspects of their significance, and in the
process making the point that from a spiritual point of view poetic truth is just as
important as historical truth or perhaps more so. To feel the impact of the mythic and
poetic elements in the Buddhas story we need to open up to them imaginatively, and not
just engage our rational, critical mind. In particular it might be helpful look at some
representations of the incidents described in the text in Buddhist art, and to bring any art
that appeals to you to the study group.
Archetypal Symbolism in the Biography of the Buddha
(Text condensed from A Guide to the Buddhist Path, by Sangharakshita, Chapter 3:
Archetypal Symbolism in the Biography of the Buddha.)
The language of the depths
If we look below the rational, conceptual surface of mans mind, we find vast unplumbed
depths which make up what we call the unconscious. The psyche in its wholeness consists
of both the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious, non-rational part of man is
by far the larger part of his total nature, and its importance is far greater than we
generally care to recognize. Consciousness is like a light froth playing and sparkling on
the surface, whilst the unconscious is like the vast ocean depths, dark and unfathomed,
lying far beneath. In order to appeal to the whole person, it isnt enough to appeal just to
the conscious, rational intelligence that floats upon the surface. We have to appeal to
something more, and this means that we have to speak an entirely different language from
the language of concepts, of abstract thought; we have to speak the language of images,
of concrete form. If we want to reach this non-rational part of the human psyche, we have
to use the language of poetry, of myth, of legend. This other, no less important, language
is one that many modern people have forgotten, or which they know only in a few
distorted and broken forms. But Buddhism does very definitely speak this language, and
speaks it no less powerfully than it speaks the language of concepts. Some people are
under the impression that Buddhism speaks only the language of concepts, of reason; that
it is a strictly rational system, even a sort of rationalism. Such a misunderstanding is in a
way quite natural in the West. After all, most of our knowledge is derived from books,
magazines, lectures, etc., so that although we may not always be aware of this, our
approach is in terms of rational, conceptual understanding. But if we go to the East we
see a very different picture. In the Eastern Buddhist countries people tend to the other
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extreme. They tend to be moved and influenced by the images all about them without
easily being able to give a rational, conceptual formulation of what they actually believe.
So far as Buddhism in the West is concerned, much more attention has been given to the
conceptual, analytical, intellectual approach. We now have to give much more time and
much more serious attention to the other type of approach, to begin to try to combine both
these approaches, unite both the conceptual and the non-conceptual. We need a balanced
spiritual life in which both the conscious and unconscious mind play their part. It is
therefore through the language of poetry and myth that we are going to approach our
subject, changing over from the conceptual approach to the non-conceptual, from the
conscious mind to the unconscious.
Here we shall be encountering some of what I have called the Archetypal Symbolism in
the Biography of the Buddha. To allow for this encounter, we have to be receptive, to
open ourselves to these archetypal symbols, to listen to them and allow them to speak in
their own way to us, especially to our unconscious depths, so that we do not jus t realize
them mentally, but experience them and assimilate them, even allowing them eventually
to transform our whole life.
The meaning of archetypal symbolism
Now, let us define our key terms. What is an archetype? Broadly speaking, an archetype
is the original pattern or model of a work, or the model from which a thing is made or
formed. And what do we mean by symbolism? A symbol is generally defined as a visible
sign of something invisible. But philosophically and religiously speaking it is more than
that: it is something existing on a lower plane which is in correspondence with something
existing on a higher plane. To cite a common example, in the various theistic traditions,
the sun is a symbol for God, because the sun performs in the physical universe the same
function that God, according to these systems, performs in the spiritual universe: the sun
sheds light and heat, just as God sheds the light of knowledge and the warmth of love into
the spiritual universe. One can say that the sun is the god of the material world, and in the
same way God is the sun of the spiritual world. Both represent the same principle
manifesting on different levels. As above, so below.
Two kinds of truth
Various Western scholars in modern times have tried to write full, detailed biographies of
the Buddha. There is quite a lot of traditional material available. Western scholars have
explored this abundant material thoroughly, but having gone through the various episodes
and incidents, they divide them into two great heaps. On one side, they put whatever
they consider to be a historic fact. On the other side they put what they consider to be
myth and legend. Now this is all right so far as it goes, but most of them go a step further,
and start indulging in value judgements, saying that only what they regard as historical
facts are valuable and relevant. As for the myths and legends, all the poetry of the
account, they usually see this as mere fiction, to be discarded as completely worthless.
This is a very great mistake, for we may say that there are two kinds of truth: what we
call scientific truth, the truth of concepts, of reasoning; and in addition to this some
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would say above this there is what we may call poetic truth, or truth of the imagination,
of the intuition. This is at least equally important. The latter kind of truth is manifested in
what we call myths and legends, as well as in works of art, in symbolic ritual, and also
quite importantly in dreams. And what we call the archetypal symbolism of the biogra phy
of the Buddha belongs to this second category. It is not meant to be historic truth, or
factual information, but poetic, even spiritual, truth. We may say that this biography of
the Buddha in terms of archetypal symbolism is not concerned with the external events of
his career, but is meant to suggest to us something about his inner spiritual experience,
and therefore to shed light on the spiritual life for all of us.
Examples of archetypal symbolism
I will now give a few examples of archetypal symbolism from the biography of the
Buddha.
The Twin Miracle
A traditional text says:
Then the Exalted One standing in the air at the height of a palm tree performed
various and diverse miracles of double appearance. The lower part of his body
would be in flames, while from the upper part there streamed five hundred jets of
cold water. While the upper part of his body was in flames, five hundred jets of
cold water streamed from the lower part. Next, by his magic power the Exalted
One transformed himself into a bull with a quivering hump. The bull vanished in
the east and appeared in the west. It vanished in the north and appeared in the
south, it vanished in the south and appeared in the north. And in this way the great
miracle is to be described in detail. Several thousand kotis of beings, seeing this
great miracle of magic, became glad, joyful and pleased, and uttered thousands of
bravos at witnessing the marvel.
I am not going to say anything here about the Buddhas transformation into a bull I am
going to concentrate here on the Twin Miracle proper, in which the Buddha emits both
fire and water. First of all, the Buddha stands in the air. This signifies a change of plane,
and is highly significant. It represents the fact that what is described does n ot happen on
the earth plane, or on the historical plane.
The Twin Miracle is not a miracle in the usual sense, not something magical or
supernormal happening here on this earth, but something spiritual, something symbolic,
happening on a higher metaphysical plane of existence. Having stood in the air, in this
metaphysical dimension, the Buddha emits fire and water simultaneously: fire from the
upper half of the body, water from the lower, and vice versa. On the higher plane of
existence where he now stands, fire and water are universal symbols. They are found all
over the world, in all cultures, all religions. Fire represents spirit, or the spiritual; and
water represents matter, the material. Fire, again, represents the heavenly, principle;
water the earthly principle. Fire represents the active, masculine principle; water the
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passive, feminine principle. Fire represents the intellect, and water the emotions. Fire
again represents consciousness, and water the unconscious. In other words, fire and water
between them represent all the cosmic opposites.
The fact that the Buddha emitted fire and water simultaneously represents the conjugation
of these great pairs of opposites. This conjunction on all levels, and on the highest level
of all especially, is synonymous with what we call Enlightenment. This episode of the
Twin Miracle tells us that Enlightenment is not a one-sided affair, not a partial
experience, but the union, the conjunction, of opposites, of fire and water, at the highest
possible level.
The ladder between heaven and earth
Let us now turn to another episode. According to the Theravada tradition, the Buddha
preached what became known as the Abhidharma to his deceased mother in the Heaven of
the Thirty-three Gods (a higher heavenly world where she was reborn when she died,
seven days after his birth). When he returned to the earth, he descended by means of a
magnificent staircase, attended by different gods, divinities, and angels. In the texts this
staircase is described in very glorious terms, as being threefold, made up of gold, silver,
and crystal.
The staircase or the ladder between heaven and earth is also a universal symbol. For
example, in the Bible there is Jacobs ladder, which has the same significance. The
staircase is that which unites the opposites, which links, draws together, heaven and earth.
In the Buddhist texts, the archetypal significance of this episode of the Buddhas descent
is enhanced by colourful, glowing descriptions in terms of gold and silver and crystal, and
different coloured lights, and panoplies of coloured sun-shades and umbrellas, and
flowers falling, and music sounding. These all make a strong appeal not to the conscious
mind, but to the unconscious, to the depths.
The World Tree
Another important variant to the theme of the union of the opposites is what is generally
known as the World Tree, or Cosmic Tree. The Buddha, according to the traditional
account, gained Enlightenment at the foot of the Bodhi Tree Bodhi meaning
transcendental wisdom, or Awakening. A trees roots go deep down into the earth, but
at the same time its branches tower high into the sky. So the tree also links heaven and
earth, is also a symbol of the union, or harmony, of opposites. The World Tree is found in
many mythologies. For instance, we have the Norse Yggdrasil, the World Ash roots
deep down, branches right up in the heavens, and all the worlds suspended on the
branches. We also get the identification of the Christian cross with a World or Cosmic
Tree. I have seen a representation of the crucifixion where branches were growing out of
the sides of the cross, and the roots went deep down into the soil. The cross also, like the
World Tree, links heaven and earth cosmically, in the same way that Christ unites the
human and the divine natures psychologically.
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The Diamond Throne

Closely associated with the idea of a ladder, or a staircase, or a tree, is the image of the
central point. In all the traditional accounts of the Buddhas Enlightenment he is
represented as sitting on what is called the Vajrsana, which literally means the
Diamond Seat, or Diamond Throne. The diamond, the vajra, in Buddhist tradition
represents the transcendental element, the metaphysical base. According to tradition, the
Vajrsana is the centre of the universe. One can compare this with the corresponding
Christian tradition that the cross stood on the same spot as the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil, from which Adam and Eve had eaten the apple, and that this spot
represents the exact centre of the world. This centrality in the cosmos of the Vajrsana
suggests that Enlightenment consists in adopting a position of centrality. This
metaphysical, or transcendental, centrality, which constitutes Enlightenment, amounts to
the same as the union of opposites about which we have spoken.
[End of extract]
Read the Introduction and Chapter 1: Entering the Mahyna Imagination (pp.3-23 ) in
Nagapriya, Visions of Mahyna Buddhism, Cambridge, Windhorse, 2009.
Read Subhutis The Psychology of Spiritual Life in Chapter 10: The Making of a New
Buddhist Culture found in his Sangharakshita: A New Voice in the Buddhist Tradition
(pp. 273-284).
Further questions for reflection
1. Are there any contemporary Western languages that you find especially lend
themselves to communicating the Dharma? What do you find yourself drawn to,
and what potential limitations and pitfalls do you see?
2. Clarify in your own mind what is meant by the terms: symbol, archetype,
myth, poetic truth, Imaginal faculty. You may want to consult a dictionary
and Thesaurus.
3. What do you make of Sangharakshitas extension to the meaning of archetype,
and how he equates this with the purpose of spiritual life?
4. How do you respond to the following statement?
It is not a question of justifying
Buddhism in scientific terms, but rather understanding sense-derived knowledge
within the context of a knowledge that is not sense-based. In other words, the
knowledge that is derived from the senses fits into a much larger pattern of
knowledge that is apprehended by the fusion of reason with emotion in a higher
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faculty of archetypal knowledge, what we may call vision, insight, or

imagination.
5. Do you have a sense of your own personal myth? Has reading Subhutis
presentation in any way clarified this for you? What questions does it raise for
you?

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Appendix: Unit 2 The Mahynas Stance

Read and explore contemporary contributions accounting for the arising of the Mahyna
tradition (see Suggested reference materials above), and reflect on how these
presentations affect your understanding of the Stra.
Start with:
Nagapriya, Chapter 2: The Origins of the Mahyna (pp.24-41) in Visions of Mahyna
Buddhism, Windhorse, Cambridge, 2009.
You could also pursue this through the following:
Ray, R.A., Buddhist Saints in India A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations,
Oxford University Press, 1994.
Sangharakshita, A Survey of Buddhism, Windhorse. Particularly Chapter 2: The Trikaya
Doctrine and The Two Truths (pp.277-292), and Chapter 3, parts four and five (pp.340368).
Williams P., with Antony Tribe, Buddhist Thought, Chapters 3-6, Routledge, 2000.
http://tinyurl.com/yf56k9k
Williams, P., Mahyna Buddhism, Routledge, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/yj94axy
Nikkyo Niwano, A Guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra, Kosei, 1981:
http://www.rk-world.org/publications/GuideLotusSutra.pdf
Possible project topic
In what ways does recent scholarship affect a reading of Sangharakshitas presentation of
the Mahyna? If youre particularly keen, Id recommend looking at Nattier, J, A Few
Good Men The Bodhisattva Path According to The Inquiry of Ugra (particularly
Chsapters 4, 5, and 7), Hawaii Univ. Press, Honolulu, 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/yjwbe5q
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Appendix: Unit 3 The Saddharma-puarka Stra

Since the essence of this course is to enjoy and get to know the Stra at first hand, you
are encouraged to repeatedly return to parts of the Stra, again and again. Over and above
all the other units recommended tasks, this remains the primary aim. Nevertheless there
are a number of very helpful supporting materials:
Read Chapter Two in Sangharakshitas The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment: Parables,
Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra, Windhorse Publications, Glasgow, 1993.
Take a look at the opening pages of Chapter Nine in Sangharakshitas The Eternal
Legacy: The White Lotus of the True Dharma, pp.103-131, appended immediately
below. The bulk of the chapter is reproduced in the main text to this module.
Dip into any of the episodes that particularly appeal to you, either by reading the Stra
itself, or use Cittapalas Abridgement that covers chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13,
14, 15, 16, 22. If you do read the Abridgement, please do go on to read those sections that
attract you in one or another of the full translations of Stra.
Literary criticism is a complete subject in its own right, and something you may be
familiar with, or know nothing of. While clearly the Stra is not a literary work in the
European tradition, a critical literary approach to your reading of the Stra may bring
interesting insights. In this vein, you could be asking yourself the kinds of questions Ive
given below:
In what does the Stras story consist? How are its major themes, points and
message being conveyed? What is its overarching purpose, feel and character?
How does it unfold? How does the form of the Stra contribute to this?
How do the different incidents and parables contribute, support and relate to the
unfolding of the whole story, its shape and quality? What gives this Stra its
particular feel, distinctive character?
Taking the story as a whole, or any particular incident or parable, wherein lies the
dramatic tension, oppositions, even conflict either between characters or within
any particular characters? What values are being portrayed at variance? What
resolutions, if any, are played out, or suggested? How is this portrayed?
What sorts of world do the Stra, and the parables portray? What does the Stra
convey about the characters involved? How do the characters and the worlds they
inhabit interrelate?
How does the language used affect our perception and interpretation? This is
where comparison of different translations can be particularly revealing. How does
the repetition of the story in prose and poetic forms affect us? Does it help carry
the story forward at all? What dramatic purpose does it fulfil?
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Is the reader meant to simply observe the story as something that happened to
the key characters, or are we drawn into the story so that it becomes our story as
well? In what sense could the different characters represent different subpersonalities within the reader, i.e. in what sense can we bring a psychological
interpretation to our reading?
Reproduced here is the first and last portions of Chapter 9 of Sangharakshitas The
Eternal Legacy, not provided in the main study module:
(p.103) So far as literary form is concerned, as distinct from doctrinal substance,

the Saddharma-puarka or White Lotus of the True Dharma is
contemporaneous, as we have seen, with the Pli Tipiaka. That is to say, it
belongs to the first century C.E. So much, at least, is generally acknowledged even
by the most rigorous of scholars, though sometimes not without the reservation
that only the nucleus of the work is as old as this. Winternitz, for example,
remarks, We shall most probably be right in placing the nucleus of the work as
far back as the first century A.D., as it is quoted by Ngrjuna, who probably lived
towards the end of the 2nd century A.D. With the exception of Chapters XXIXXVI of the extant Sanskrit text, however, which are patently extraneous, the
Stra is so much a literary unity that it is difficult to pick out any one chapter o r
group of chapters as constituting its original nucleus. Even so, this is not to assert
that even the main body of the Stra is of one uniform chronological texture
throughout. Although, apart from amplifications, elaborations and minor
interpolations, it was not produced by a process of gradual accretion, the character
of the work as a literary composition is such as still to admit of differences of age
between one portion and another. The differences occur, however, not with regard
to the main body of the Stra taken as a whole but within its individual constituent
chapters.
Each of these chapters consists of two kinds of material, (p.104) one alternating
with the other: gths or verses, and prose. While the language of the former is
what is variously termed Mixed or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, or sometimes the
Gatha Dialect, that of the latter is pure Sanskrit. The subject-matter of the two is
more or less identical. As in some other parts of the Canon, whatever is said in
verse is repeated, sometimes with variations, in the prose portions, so that in the
case of the Saddharma-puarka, Each section, prose and verse, would, if
separated, make a fairly complete whole. For reasons into which we cannot enter
here, most scholars believe that the verse portion is on the whole earlier than the
prose and that the latter, consisting originally of short connecting passages which,
as the language of the gths became obsolete, were expanded so as to constitute a
rough guide to the meaning of their more archaic verse counterparts. N. Dutt is
apparently of a different opinion. He points out that, The use of Mixed Sanskrit in
the gths and Pure Sanskrit in the prose portions was the rule in the first or
second century A.C. or earlier when the Mahyna texts were being composed for
the first time. In the gths, emphasis was laid more on diction and melody than
on grammar, provided the content was anyhow intelligible.
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Whatever be the truth of the matter, it ought in any case to be borne in mind that
the terms commonly used by scholars to describe the respective languages of the
prose and verse portions of the Saddharma-puarka are apt to be misleading.
This is all the more necessary inasmuch as these terms are used with reference not
only to this Stra but in connection with other canonical works. By Pure Sanskrit
is meant that form of the language which conforms to the rules established by the
grammarian Pni. Thus neither the Vedas nor the Upaniads are written, or
rather composed, in Pure Sanskrit. By Mixed Sanskrit, which because it is used in
Buddhist works and represents a cross between the literary and the spoken
language, is also called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, is meant that form of the
language which, instead of conforming to the classical Pnian model, kept
close to the richer and grammatically less hidebound speech-forms of the
vernacular. Despite the disapproval of modern purists, no pejorative (p.105)
connotation really attaches to the term Mixed Sanskrit. The difference between the
two is not unlike that between Elizabethan English, with its greater exuberance,
and the more correct medium favoured by writers of Queen Annes reign.
There appear to have existed two recensions of the Saddharma-puarka, one
consisting of twenty-seven chapters, literally turnings (parivarta) of the wheel of
the Dharma, and one of twenty-eight. Fortunately for our knowledge of this
supremely important work, the former has survived complete in Nepal, whence
various copies have been procured, ranging in age from the eleventh to the
beginning of the eighteenth century C.E. Fragments of much older manuscripts,
dating from the fifth to the sixth century and representing both recensions, have
also been recovered, in recent times, from Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan,
while from Gilgit in Kashmir has come an equally ancient copy of more than
three-quarters of the work that agrees with the Nepalese manuscripts.
Another manuscript, discovered at Turfan, contains an Uigur-Turkish translation
of the Samantamukha-parivarta, corresponding to Chapter XXIV of the complete
Sanskrit text, to the divisions of which all our references will be made. This
difference in the number of chapters is due, not to the presence in one recension of
an additional chapter not found in the other, but simply to the fact that the latter
part of Chapter XI in the Nepalese or complete Sanskrit text, has been reckoned as
an independent chapter.
According to Nanjio, eight or nine translations of this Stra were made into
Chinese, the earliest, now lost, being executed by Dharmaraka in the year 265
C.E. Three translations are still available. The first, that of Dharmaraka, a multilingual Yueh-chih who may or may not be identical with the first translator, was
made in 286 C.E. The second, that of Kumrajva, followed in 406 C.E. Both these
versions consist of twenty-eight chapters and in both of them, more importantly,
Chapter XXVII of the complete Nepalese Sanskrit text occurs not at the end of the
work but about three fifths of the way through as Chapter XXIII, in the case of
Dharmarakas version, and as Chapter XXIV, in the case of Kumrajvas, the
discrepancy being due to the fact that whereas the former places the
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Samantamukha-parivarta immediately before this concluding chapter the latter

places it immediately after. What inferences can be drawn from these differences
it is difficult to say. Chapter XXVII of the Nepalese Sanskrit text undoubtedly
forms the natural (p.106) conclusion of the Stra, but whether Kumrajva,
realising that Chapters XXI XXVI (of this text) were an interpolation, relegated
them to the end of his version, or whether he found them already so relegated in
the Kucha script text from which he is said to have worked, we do not know. The
sequence of chapters found in Dharmarakas version, however, may well indicate
that the Samantamukha-parivarta came to be associated with the Saddharmapuarka at an earlier date than the remaining five interpolated chapters. The
third Chinese translation still extant is that produced in 601 C.E., by Jnagupta
and Dharmagupta, two monks reputed to be of Indian origin. In number and
sequence of chapters this version agrees with the Sanskrit text, as well as with the
Tibetan translation.
Of the three versions Kumrajvas is undoubtedly the most popular. The
Saddharma-puarka is not only a religious classic, but a masterpiece of
symbolic spiritual literature, and his rendering, with the help of Chinese poets and
scholars during the most creative period of Chinese art and letters, though hardly a
literal translation does ample justice to these qualities. It therefore occupies,
throughout the Far East, a position analogous to that of the Authorised Version of
the Bible in Anglo-Saxon lands.
Scholars have remarked on the comparative paucity of explicit doctrinal
instruction in the Saddharma-puarka. While concurring with their observation,
we cannot agree that this constitutes a defect, as they would seem to imply.
Corresponding to the distinction between the intellect and the emotions, between
science and poetry, there are two great modes for the communication of spiritual
truths, and therefore two principal types of religious literature. One mode is
conceptual, addressing itself to the understanding by means of abstractions; the
other is existential, appealing to the emotions and the will through concrete
actions and sensuous images. While the first excogitates systems of religious
philosophy and theologies, the second gives birth to magic, myths and legends. To
one, as its natural literary expression, appertains the treatise and the tractate , the
polemic and the discursive, descriptive treatment of religious ideals; to the other
the religious drama, the story and the song. As representatives of the first stand
such works as Aristotles Metaphysics, akaras commentary on the Brahma
Stras, and St. Thomas Aquinass Summa Theologica. The second (p.107) is
exemplified by pre-Euripidean Greek Tragedy, the Gospel parables, the stories of
Chuang-tzu and St. Franciss Canticle of the Sun. Broadly speaking the latter
belong to the historically earlier and more creative stages of religious
development, the former to the later.
Within the limits of the Buddhist Canon, the sciential type of religious literature is
represented by the treatises of the Abhidharma-Piaka and by the Praj-pramit
corpus, and the imaginative by the Birth-Stories and the Glorious Deeds, as well
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as by a class of Mahyna Stras of which the Saddharma-puarka is the first

example. It is, therefore, a mistake to search for, and yet a greater one to bemoan
the absence of, a content which the nature of this Stra as a work of symbolic
spiritual literature precludes it from possessing. This is not to say that conceptual
elements are altogether lacking. Many of the more important Hnayna and
Mahyna doctrinal categories occur in one place or another; but their position is a
subordinate one, and while contributing to the composition of the Stra, they do
not in any way determine its basic structure.
The Saddharma-puarka constitutes, in fact, a remarkable, perhaps a unique,
synthesis of all the principal imaginative elements. In form it is dramatic; its
significance resides not only in what is said, but in what is done. For example,
instead of merely stating that the more conceited among the rvakas were unable
to accept the Mahyna teaching, it actually shows them, as though on a stage,
rising from their seats and quitting the assembly when the Buddha announces that
they have something more to learn (Chapter II). Similarly, we are not just given a
discourse on the universality of the Mahyna, and how the highest spiritual
attainment is open to all irrespective of sex, but allowed to see for ourselves the
Naga princess transforming herself, in the twinkling of an eye, into a male
Bodhisattva and departing for a distant universe called, significantly, The Pure
(vimal nma lokadhtu), and becoming a Buddha there (Chapter XI).
Soothill from whose incomplete but poetic version from Kumrajva most of our
quotations will be taken is therefore right in his general estimation of the Stra:
From the first chapter we find the Lotus Stra to be unique in the world of
religious literature. A magnificent apocalyptic, it presents a spiritual
drama (p.108) of the highest order, with the universe as its stage, eternity
as its period, and Buddhas, gods, men, devils, as the dramatis personae.
From the most distant worlds and from past aeons, the eternal Buddhas
throng the stage to hear the mighty Buddha proclaim His ancient and
eternal Truth. Bodhisattvas flock to his feet; gods from the heavens, men
from all quarters of the earth, the tortured from the deepest hells, the
demons themselves crowd to hear the tones of the Glorious One.
Obviously such a drama as this is not naturalistic but symbolic.
The Saddharma-puarka has for one of its principal contents another of the
grand imaginative elements, namely myth and legend. Instead of depicting the
petty vicissitudes of human life, much of it describes the sublime activities of
colossal and mysterious beings, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in world-systems
unthinkably remote from our own in both space and time. Dramatic unity is
preserved by the device of a Jtaka-like identification of one or another of these
beings, or one of their disciples, with Majur, or Maitreya, or one of the other
actors in the drama, including its great protagonist, kyamuni himself. Such
descriptions do not merely illustrate the universality of the Mahyna and its
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teaching in a general way. For when kyamuni takes his seat in the sky, with
Prabhtaratna, on a single lion-throne, the incident is clearly symbolical, showing
that the two Buddhas, the former belonging to the present and the latter to the
infinitely remote past, are in essence one, and that in the Mind of Supreme
Enlightenment distinctions of time and place are transcended (Chapter XI).
Closely connected with the myths and legends are the phantasmagoria. Just as the
former, though understood literally by Mahayanists in the past, are essentially
neither history nor geography, so the latter are not really magic. kyamuni
projects from between his eyebrows a ray of light which reveals all the worlds in
the eastern quarter (Chapter I). Or, to take a more striking, perhaps even
grotesque, example, he and the vast concourse of Buddhas foregathered from other
worlds protrude their tongues until they reach up to the Brahma-world, (p.109),
thus illuminating all directions of space (Chapter XXI). Except in appearance,
these are not exhibitions of supernormal power like the Double Miracle (yamakaddhi) at rvast, when the Master walked up and down in the air emitting
simultaneously from his body streams of water and flames of fire. They are visual
symbols, and like the myths and legends their real import is spiritual. The ray
issuing from between the Buddhas eyebrows is the light of Truth, which does not
annihilate the world of concrete particulars but, on the contrary, transfigures it and
reveals its true meaning and significance. In the same way the protrusion of the
organ of speech symbolises the Absolutes unlimited power of communication
with sentient beings.
Yet despite this predominance of the existential mode, action no more excludes
utterance in the Saddharma-puarka than it does in other forms of dramatic
composition. Truth is not only exhibited but also explained. Even here, however,
the Stra remains true to its essential nature. Though conceptual statement is not
absent, the favourite medium for the explicit communication of its central teaching
is the parable.
The parables of the Saddharma-puarka are unsurpassed in the entire range of
Buddhist literature, and, together with the grandiose conception of the whole
work, they stamp this Stra ineffaceably with the hallmark of literary genius. All
the more important of them are summarised below. Especially with reference to
the Buddhas Enlightenment, or to his knowledge, the Stra moreover attempts to
convey the meaning of infinity not mathematically but by means of concrete
images. We are not told how many aeons have passed since a certain Buddha
attained parinirva, but asked to imagine the earth-element of a whole galactic
system ground into ink and then someone going in an eastern direction and letting
fall one drop every time he had traversed a thousand such systems: the time which
has passed since that Buddhas parinirva would still immeasurably exceed the
time needed to exhaust the ink (Chapter VII). Here this mode of expression, too, is
in keeping with the fundamentally non-conceptual character of the Stra. ...

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The Great Drama concludes with kyamuni Buddhas final commission to his
disciples before entering parinirva. Rising from his Lion-throne in the sky,
where he has been seated with Prabhtaratna, he thrice places his right hand in
blessing on the heads of the countless Irreversible Bodhisattvas and solemnly
entrusts to them the preservation and promulgation of the Stra. This done, he
requests all the Buddhas present to return to their own domains, saying: Buddhas!
Peace be upon you. Let the Stpa of the Buddha Abundant Treasures be restored
as before. As these words are pronounced, the innumerable emanated Buddhas
from every direction, who are seated on Lion-thrones under the jewel-trees, as
well as the Buddha Abundant Treasures, the host of infinite, numberless
Bodhisattvas, Viiacaritra and others, also the four groups of rvakas, riputra
and the rest, as well as the worlds, gods, men, asuras and so on, hearing the wor ds
of the Buddha, all rejoice greatly (p.129).
Though the ramifications of its symbolism might well be the study of a lifetime,
the leitmotif of this tremendous apocalyptic drama emerges from the welter of
scenes and exuberance of language with sufficient force and clarity. To give a
conceptualized abstract of its teaching is therefore superfluous. This does not
mean, however, that there are no misunderstandings to be avoided. Largely on
account of Chapter XV, entitled Tathgata-ayuprama or The Tathgatas
Infinite Life, modern writers, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, have accused the
Mahyna of deifying the founder of Buddhism and thus introducing into his
religion a theistic element incompatible with the decidedly non-theistic character
of what is supposed to have been the primitive evangelium. Based as it is on a
misunderstanding, the accusation cannot be sustained. Theism involves the
conception of an eternal, omnipotent creator, but since no Buddhist text, of any
school, attributes to the Buddha the creation of the universe, it is impossible to
speak of him as God without radically modifying the traditional meaning of this
term.
Far from deifying the Buddha, in the sense of formally investing him with theistic
attributes, what the Saddharma-puarka really does is to reveal another, a
transcendental dimension of the Buddhas human greatness, thus enabling us to
see him, and with him the totality of existence, not according to the flesh but sub
specie aeternitatis. In terms of the Trikya doctrine, some acquaintance with
which is indispensable to an understanding of the Mahyna, it enables us to see
not merely his Nirmakya but his Sambhogakya and Dharmakya as well. The
latter are, however, not so much independent, or as it were superadded bodies, but
the former in its ultimate depth, for which reason the Buddha of the Saddharmapuarka, however transcendent in his glory, is not any new, supra-historical
figure, of the type of which there were many to hand when the Stra was
composed, but still kyamuni the mendicant Indian teacher. Though expressed
with help of mathematical symbols, his infinite life therefore represents not the
indefinite prolongation, in time, of a particular enlightened personality, but the
fact that Enlightenment, being the full realization of ultimate Reality, transcends
time altogether. Hence the Buddha, as the possessor of this Infinite Life, is not to
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be identified with the (p.130) eternal God of popular theism. In the same way his
various exhibitions of supernormal power, such as the protrusion of the tongue and
the shaking of the universe, are not evidence of omnipotence, nor even magic
feats, as they might be in a Hnayna Stra, but concrete symbols of spiritual
truths.
The minor details of the parables, also, are not to be applied too literally nor
pressed too far. The fact that, in the Parable of the Burning House, the Buddha is
spoken of as the father and sentient beings as his sons means simply that his
compassion for those involved in the Sasra is analogous to the love of a father
for his children. It certainly does not imply that according to the Saddharmapuarka he is actually the creator of mankind.
These misunderstandings having been corrected, all that need be remarked, by way
of conclusion, is that in a sense the subject-matter of the Stra is the Stra itself.
Like a world, it revolves on its own axis. The dramatic situation out of which the
whole action develops is the Buddhas proclamation that he is about to reveal a
truth transcending all his previous teachings, in other words, that he is going to
preach the Saddharma-puarka. Again, the revelation of his Infinite Life,
forming the climax of the entire work, follows, by way of elucidation, upon his
declaration that, having sufficient Bodhisattvas of his own to protect and
propagate the Stra after his parinirva, he has no need of the services of those
hailing from other Buddha-fields.
Finally, the ideal Buddhist is depicted as one who is ardently devoted to the Stra.
In terms of the Three Jewels, the Buddha is the revealer of the Saddharmapuarka , the Dharma is the spiritual life and dramatic action of which it
consists, and the Sangha the community of those who, participating in that life and
action, have pledged themselves to the preservation of the sacred text and
promulgation of its teaching. Thus, the Saddharma-puarka represents a
synthesis, at the Mahyna level, of the most precious part of the Buddhist
heritage, with the first of the Three Jewels predominating. Indeed, certain more
glowingly eulogistic passages of the text would seem to suggest that the words
Saddharma-puarka connote much more than just the title of a Stra, however
great, being in truth the appellation of a figured flame that not only blends but as
a unity transcends the Three Jewels, and is itself the supreme (p.131) object of
devotion and transcendental knowledge, the mysterious, all-comprehending
ultimate Reality.

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Abridgement of the White Lotus Stra

This rendering of The Saddharma-puarka Stra is an abridgment produced for WBO
Day 1999 (the annual anniversary celebrating the founding of the Order) derived by using
selected excerpts from The Lotus Stra translated by Burton Watson (Columbia Press
1993), Soothills Lotus of the Wonderful Law (1930), The Threefold Lotus Stra trans.
Bunno Kato (Weatherhill, 1984), Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma
trans. Leon Hurvitz (Columbia 1976), The Saddharma-puarka trans. H. Kearn (Sacred
Books of the East, Vol.XXI). Whilst intending to remain as faithful to the original texts as
much as possible, readers should bear in mind the inevitably interpretative means Ive
employed with such an extensive abridgement.
The form Ive chosen to present the Stra is that of a dramatic reading, i.e. in which the
individual voices are made clear. While any one reader could find a way to make these
voices distinct, this form of presentation also lends itself to a number of readers, each
taking a voice, part or role. Either way, this helps to draw out what I believe was
probably the original oral mode of telling the story of the Stra. That is, before the Stra
was written down, it will inevitably have been told with elements of improvisation and
personal elaboration on the part of any particular raconteur to help bring the telling to life
in the imaginations of any particular audience.
1: Introduction
Ananda: Thus have I heard: At one time when the Buddha was staying at Rajagriha, the
City of Royal Palaces, he assembled on Mount Grdhrakuta a great multitude of leading
bhikshus, in all twelve thousand. All were arhats, faultless their outflows exhausted,
never again subject to earthly klesas; their minds free, they had attained what was to their
advantage, being emancipated from all bonds of existence. Also assembled were eighty
thousand Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, none of them ever regressing on the path to Supreme
Perfect Enlightenment. All had mastered the dharanis, and being eloquent, delighted in
teaching and turning the irreversible wheel of the Dharma.
Present also were Indra, king of the gods, with his twenty thousand sons, as well as the
eight Naga kings, four Kimnara kings, four Gandharva kings, four Asura kings, four
Garuda kings, each with several hundreds of thousands of followers. And there was also
King Ajatashatru, the son of Vaidehi, with several hundreds of thousands of followers.
Each of these, after making obeisance before the Buddha, withdrew and took a seat to one
side.
Then the World-honoured One, surrounded by this great fourfold assembly, received
offerings and tokens of respect and was honoured and praised. And after all this had been
concluded, for the sake of the Bodhisattvas the Buddha taught the Mahyna Stra called
Ananta-nirdesa, a teaching to instruct the Bodhisattva, one that is guarded and kept in
mind by the Buddhas.

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When the Buddha had finished teaching this Stra, he sat with his legs crossed in lotus
position and entered into the samadhi called Ananta-nirdesa-pratisthana-samadhi, in
which his body and mind were motionless. At that time the heavens rained down great
mandarava and manjushaka flowers, scattering them over the Buddha and the great
assembly, and everywhere the Buddha world quaked and trembled in six different ways.
And as a consequence the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, devas, nagas, yakshas,
gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, human and nonhuman beings in the
assembly, as well as the petty kings and wheel-turning sage king, all of this great
assembly, obtained that which had never been before, were filled with joy and, pressing
their palms together, gazed at the Buddha with a single mind.
Then the Buddha, from the curl of white hair between his eyebrows, sent forth a ray of
light illuminating eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern quarter. There was no place
that the light did not penetrate, reaching downward as far as the Avichi hell and upward
to the Akanishtha heaven.
Here, in this our own world, could be seen the living beings in the six paths of existence
in all of those other lands. Likewise one could see the Buddhas present at that time in
those other lands and could hear the Stra teachings which those Buddhas were
expounding, as well as the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas who through
practice had attained the Way. So too were Bodhisattva-mahasattvas to be seen who,
through various causes and conditions, and various types of faith and understanding, and
in various forms and aspects were carrying out the way of the Bodhisattva. And one could
also see the Buddhas who had entered parinirva, and the stupas adorned with the seven
treasures erected for their Buddha relics.
And then the Bodhisattva Maitreya had this thought:
Maitreya: The World-honoured One has manifested these miraculous signs. But what is
the cause of these auspicious portents? An unfathomable event such as this is seldom to
be met with. Since the Buddha, the World-honoured One, has entered into samadhi, who
shall I question about this? Who can give me an answer? Manjushri, son of the Dharma raja, has already personally attended and given offerings to immeasurable numbers of
Buddhas in the past. Surely he must have witnessed such unprecedented signs as these? I
will now question him.
Manjushri!
Why does our Master and teacher
From the white curl between his eyebrows
Radiate this great light?
The rain of mandarava
And manjushaka flowers
And fragrant breezes of sandalwood
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Delight our every heart.

The earth is everywhere adorned and purified,
Quaking and trembling in six ways.
All are filled with joy and delight,
Rejoicing in body and mind,
Having gained what they never had before.
Buddha son, Manjushri,
Why has the World-honoured One
Sent forth this bright beam of light?
Ananda: Then Manjushri replied:
Manjushri: Good sons! I suppose that the Buddha, the World-honoured One wishes now
to expound the ultimate truth, to pour down the rain of the true Dharma, to raise the
banner of the true Dharma, to kindle the torch of the true Dharma, to blow the conch of
the true Dharma, to beat the great drum of the true Dharma, to elucidate the meaning of
the true Dharma. Whenever in the past I have seen this auspicious portent among the
Buddhas, they sent forth a beam of light like this, and after that they expounded the
ultimate truth of the Dharma. Therefore we should know that, when the present Buddha
manifests this auspicious portent of light, he will do likewise. He wishes to cause all
living beings to hear and understand the real truth, which is difficult for all the world to
believe. The Tathagata is about to teach the Mahyna Stra called The Saddharmapuarka the White Lotus of the Real Truth, revealing the meaning of the true
essence of phenomena, a teaching to instruct the Bodhisattva, one that is guarded and
kept in mind by the Buddhas. Human beings will now come to know it. Let us press our
palms together and wait with a single mind. The Buddha will pour down the rain of the
Dharma to fully satisfy all true seekers of the way. You who seek the three vehicles, if
you have doubts and regrets, the Buddha will resolve them for you, bringing them to an
end.

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Chapter 2: Expedient Means

Ananda: When Manjusri had finished speaking, the World-honoured One, calmly arising
from samadhi, addressed Shariputra, saying:
The Buddha: The wisdom of the Buddhas is profound and infinite. The school of their
wisdom is difficult to enter and to understand. Not one of the sravakas or
pratyekabuddhas is able to comprehend it. What is the reason for this?
Immeasurable are the worlds heroes,
None amongst men,
Nor the worlds heavenly creatures
Can fathom the Buddhas.
Long ago I followed countless Buddhas,
And perfectly trod the ways
Of the profound and mystic Dharma,
Hard to perceive and perform.
During infinite kotis of kalpas,
Having followed all these ways,
Attaining fruition on the Wisdom-throne
I perfectly understand
The meaning of every nature and form.
I and the Buddhas of the universe
Alone can understand these things
The Truth, beyond demonstration,
The Truth, beyond expression,
The Truth, beyond the realm of terms.
But among living beings none comprehend it,
Except Bodhisattvas unshaken in the power of faith.
Shariputra!
Even the many arhats who,
Have already cut off all outflows
And now dwell in their last birth,
Even such persons have not the power needed.
Though men like Shariputra filled the whole world,
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Though they pooled their capacities,

They could not fathom the Buddha-Wisdom.
With the Buddhas of the ten directions
Only I understand these truths.
Shariputra!
The words of the various Buddhas never differ!
Toward the Dharma taught by the Buddhas
Cultivate a great power of faith.
I announce to all assembled:
Through the power of expedient means,
To pry living beings from their attachments,
The Buddha has long taught preparatory doctrines,
According to his disciples capacities,
He has shown the Way to attain release
By means of the three vehicles.
But now the Buddha will reveal
The mysterious, incomprehensible,
Profound, subtle and wonderful Dharma,
The perfect Truth in full.
Ananda: Now when the sravakas and Arhats amongst the great assembly heard the
Buddha speak in this way, each reflected: For what reason does the World-honoured One
now so earnestly praise expedient means, saying that the Dharma attained by him is so
profound and difficult to understand and that the meaning of what he is about to teach is
so difficult to comprehend that it is beyond the grasp of the sravakas or pratyekabuddhas?
Since the Buddha has taught but one principle of emancipation, by which we have
attained nirvana, we cannot follow the gist of what he is saying now.
Shariputra, understanding their doubts and he himself not yet fully understanding,
addressed the Buddha, saying:
Shariputra:
O Sun of Wisdom!
Great Sage and World-honoured One!
At last, unasked, you will announce the highest truth.
But now the fourfold assembly
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Is fallen into a net of doubts.

For what reason do you so earnestly
Praise expedient means,
The foremost device of the Buddhas
Profound, subtle and wonderful Dharma
so difficult to understand?
From times past I have never heard
This kind of teaching from the Buddha.
With folded hands and reverent minds,
We beg the World-honoured One
To expound this matter
Wishing to hear of the Perfect Path.
Ananda: After Shariputra had made this request three times, the World-honoured One
replied:
The Buddha: Shariputra, three times you have stated your earnest request. How can I
refuse to speak? Listen attentively and carefully ponder. For your sake I will now explain
the matter clearly.
Ananda: But when the Buddha had spoken these words, some five thousand bhiksus,
bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas in the assembly immediately rose from their seats.
Bowing to the Buddha, they withdrew, and left the great assembly. What was the reason
for this? The root of sin in these beings was so deep and their haughty spirits so enlarged
that they imagined they had attained and understood what in fact they had not. Being so
mistaken, they would not remain where they were. The World-honoured One was silent
and did not try to detain them. After they had left, the Buddha said to Shariputra:
The Buddha: Now this assembly of mine is free of useless twigs and leaves, having none
but the firm fruit of the steadfast and true.
Shariputra, the Buddhas words
Are not empty or false.
The Buddhas teach the Dharma,
Employing countless expedient means,
Discussing causes and conditions,
Using words of simile and parable
To expound innumerable teachings.
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But bhiksus and bhiksunis

Obsessed by utmost arrogance,
Upasakas in self-conceit,
Upasikas in unbelief,
Such the like as these
Perceiving not their error
And faults in moral law,
Nursing only their flaws,
Such small-wits have gone.
This chaff, these unhappy men,
Shutting out this Truth,
Hide from the Buddhas majesty, (Now) has this assembly nor twigs nor leaves,
But only the true and real.
Shariputra! Listen carefully
To the Dharma obtained by the Buddhas,
Which by infinitely skilful means,
They expound for all creatures.
This Dharma cannot be understood
Through pondering or analysis.
Like the udumbara,
Seldom seen in flower,
So the Buddhas rarely teach
This subtle, wonderful Dharma.
The Buddha, thoroughly knowing
The thoughts of living beings,
The nature of their desires,
And the ways they tread,
According to their capacity,
With various reasonings, parables,
Terms and tactful ways,
Causes them all to rejoice.
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To the dull who have failed,

Under countless Buddhas,
To walk the profound and mystic Way,
But who delight in petty rules,
And to those greedily attached to mortality,
Being harassed by suffering
To these I teach Nirvana.
Such is my first expedient in
Leading them to Buddha-wisdom.
Not yet could I say to them,
You all shall attain to Buddhahood,
For the time had not yet arrived.
But now the very time has come
And I must teach the Great Vehicle.
But when I teach this Buddha-Way,
The ignorant, lacking wholesome roots,
Remain confused and deluded,
And accept not my teaching.
By stubbornly clinging to base desires,
Infatuated with greed and delusion,
They suffer the utmost misery.
Revolving through the six realms
They pass from generation to generation,
Poor in virtue and of little happiness,
Oppressed by suffering.
Dwelling in the thickets of opinion,
Relying on empty propositions,
They become rooted in false philosophy,
Tenacious and unyielding,
Self-inflated and arrogant,
Suspicious, sycophantic and insincere.
During thousands and millions of kalpas
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Such hear not the name of Buddha,

Nor ever learn of the Truth;
These men are hard to save.
In the perilous round of mortality,
In continuous, unending misery,
Firmly tied to their passions
As a yak in love with its tail,
Such, smothered by greed and infatuation,
Blinded and seeing nothing,
Seek not the Buddha, the Mighty,
And the Truth that ends suffering.
But deeply sunk in heresy,
By suffering seeking to rid suffering
Such are hard to save;
For the sake of all these creatures
My heart is stirred with compassion.
For their sake, Shariputra,
I set up an expedient,
Proclaiming a Way to end suffering,
Revealing it as Nirvana.
Yet, though I proclaim Nirvana,
It is not real extinction.
To teach the Buddha-wisdom
The Buddha employs provisional terms;
But in the Buddha-lands of the ten directions,
All dharmas from the first
Are ever of Nirvana nature,
There is only the Dharma of the One yana,
Not two, still less three.
The Buddha appears in the world
Only for this One Reality;
For never by a smaller vehicle,
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Does a Buddha save any creature.

The Buddha abides in the Great-Vehicle
Enriched by meditation and wisdom,
And living by the Truth so attained,
By it all creatures are saved.
The Buddhas open (the eyes of) the living
To the pure Way of the Perfect Knowledge
Of the One Buddha-Wisdom.
Living beings, hearing the Buddha-Dharma,
All enter the One Buddha-yana,
All finally obtain Perfect Enlightenment.
Know, O Shariputra!
Long ago I made a vow,
In desire to cause all creatures
To rank equally with me without distinction;
Now all will be fulfilled:
When a Buddha-son treads the true Path,
In a world to come he becomes Buddha.
Know, Shariputra!
The stupid and those of little wit,
Those tied to externals,
And the proud cannot believe this Truth.
But now I gladly and with boldness
In the midst of (you) Bodhisattvas,
Straightway put aside expediency
And only proclaim the Supreme Way.
It was as expedient means
That I expounded a Three-Vehicle Law.
Let all be free of doubt and perplexity.
World-Honoured Ones, without exception,
Teach this Way: the One Buddha-yana.
(For) all Buddhas take the one vow:
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The Buddha-way which I walk,

I will universally cause all the living
To attain this same Way with me.
Though Buddhas in future ages
Proclaim hundreds, thousands, kotis,
Of countless ways into the doctrine,
In reality there is but the One-Vehicle.
In the same fashion that Buddhas,
Past, present, and future, teach this Dharma,
So also will I now proclaim
The one and undivided Dharma.
Even in infinite, countless kalpas,
Rarely may this Dharma be heard,
And those able to listen to it,
Such men as these are rare.
Who hears and joyfully extols it,
Though but by a single word,
Thus pays homage to
All Buddhas in the three realms.
Know, Shariputra,
That this Wonderful Dharma
Is the secret of all the Buddhas.
Rejoice greatly in your heart,
Knowing that you will become a Buddha.

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Chapter 3: Simile And Parable

Ananda: At that time Shariputra, ecstatic with joy, immediately rose, and, pressing his
palms together and gazing in reverence at the face of the World-honoured One, said to the
Buddha:
Shariputra: Now, when I hear from the World-honoured One this voice of the Dharma,
my heart dances with joy, since I have gained what I have never had before. Why do I say
this? Because, when in the past I heard how the Bodhisattvas were predicted to attain
Buddhahood, I and others felt excluded. I was deeply grieved to think I would never gain
the immeasurable insight of the Tathagata. World-honoured One, I have constantly lived
in the mountain forest or alone under the trees and always I have thought to myself, we
have entered all alike into the nature of the Dharma, so why does the Tathagata use the
Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle to deprive us of the opportunity to gain the unsurpassed
attainments and body of a Buddha?
But the fault is mine, not that of the World-honoured One. I failed to understand that the
Buddha was employing expedient means, and teaching what was appropriate to our
circumstances. For example, when I first heard the Buddhas teaching, which rooted out
my mistaken views, I immediately supposed that I had fully understood the teaching of
Emptiness, and assumed I had reached the final goal. I now realise that this was not the
true Nirvana.
World-honoured One, for a long time now, day and night, I have repeatedly taxed myself
with this thought. But now I hear the Buddhas gentle voice, hear what I had never heard
before, a wonderful teaching, profound, extremely subtle, far beyond ordinary
understanding, setting forth the pure Dharma, the means to accomplish Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment for all. My doubts and regrets are ended. My heart is filled with joy; my
body and mind are at ease; I have gained peace and security. Today, at long last, I indeed
know that I am the Buddhas son, born of the Buddhas mouth, born through conversion
to the Dharma, and received my inheritance of the Buddhas Teaching! I am certain that I
too will become a Buddha!
Ananda: And then the Buddha said to Shariputra:
The Buddha: Indeed, Shariputra, in ages to come, having made offerings to numberless
Buddhas, being endowed with all the Bodhisattva practices, the ten powers and other
blessings, you will realise the unsurpassed Way. You will become a Buddha, of universal
wisdom, venerable, bearing the name Padmaprabha Tathagata, Worthy of offerings,
Fully and Perfectly Awake, Equipped with Knowledge and Practice, Happily Attained,
Knower of the World, Guide Unsurpassed of Men to Be Tamed, Peerless Leader, Teacher
of gods and men, Buddha, World-honoured One, and you will save countless multitudes.
Your world will be called Viraja Free from Stain pure, without flaw or blemish. Its
land will be made of lapis lazuli, its roads bounded by ropes of gold, and seven -jewelled
trees in a blaze of colours will constantly bear blossoms and fruit. After countless kalpas
have passed, your kalpa will be named Maharatna-pratimandita or Great Treasure
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Adornment. Why? Because your Bodhisattvas will be infinite, boundless, inconceivable,

beyond compare - wherever they walk, jewel flowers will receive their feet. The lifespan
of the Buddha Padmaprabha will be twelve minor kalpas. He will then predict the
Bodhisattva Dhriti-paripurna to become a Buddha whose name will be Padma-vrsabhavikramin or He who walks securely on lotuses. After that Buddha Padmaprabha has
passed into extinction, the True Dharma will endure in the world for thirty-two small
kalpas, saving living beings far and wide. The actions of Padmaprabha Buddha will all be
as I have said. This most excellent and holy of men will be foremost and without peer.
And he will be none other than you, Shariputra you should rejoice and count yourself
fortunate!
Ananda: Then Shariputra said:
Shariputra: World-Honoured One, now I have no more doubts or second-thoughts; but
for the sake of these disciples gathered here, who have heard what they have never heard
before, I beg you to resolve their uncertainty.
Ananda: The Buddha replied:
The Buddha: Shariputra, have I not said before that the Buddhas, World-honoured Ones,
by a variety of reasonings, parables and terms, teach the Dharma as may be expedient. All
these are for the purpose of transforming their disciples into Bodhisattvas. But, let me
again by means of simile and parable make this clearer, for intelligent people can thereby
reach understanding.
[The Parable of the Burning House]
Shariputra, suppose that in a certain town in a certain country there was a rich elder of
great power, advanced in years, his wealth incalculable, owning many estates, mansions
and surrounded by servants. One of his houses was large and spacious, but also very old:
the foundations were collapsing, the walls cracked and the plaster crumbling, its ceilings
falling in, with pillars rotten at their base, beams slipping, and the roof and rafters
crooked and aslant. And in this house lived a great many people a hundred, two
hundred, perhaps as many as five hundred. But also living as well were all manner of
venomous creatures such as rats, mice, snakes, beetles, insects, raccoons, weasels and
many types of birds. Packs of dogs, driven by hunger and fear, raced through the house
searching for food. The house stank of excrement and overflowed with streams of filth.
And all manner of ferocious demons and evil spirits, shrieking and howling, roamed
everywhere making the house fearful and perilous.
One day, quite suddenly, a fire broke out, and spreading quickly, the house was soon
ablaze. As it happened, the rich man was standing outside the gate to the house, when
someone said to him, A little while ago, all your young children went into the house to
play. Greatly alarmed, the rich man rushed into the burning house to save them. But
when he saw huge flames leaping up on every side, he was very fearful, thinking,
Although we can escape to safety through the burning doorway, my children are too
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preoccupied enjoying themselves and playing games; my children are very young,
knowing nothing as yet, and they love their games, and are completely engrossed in them.
Unaware, they dont understand and are not frightened. Though the fire is closing in on
them, with pain and suffering imminent, yet they dont mind; they dont think of trying to
escape!
Shariputra, this rich man thought to himself, I am strong; perhaps I can carry each of
them out of the house? But then he thought, There is only one door through which we
could go, and it is too narrow and small for me to carry them. All I can do is to warn them
that they will get hurt by the flames, that they must be quick to get out in time before they
come to great harm.
So he called out to all his children, saying, You must come out at once! But though the
father was moved by compassion and spoke kindly, the children, absorbed in their games,
paid no attention to him. They were not frightened, and did not want to pay any attention
to him, nor to leave the house. Moreover, they did not really understand what he meant,
nor what danger they were in. They merely raced up and down in play, from time time
glancing at their father.
Then the rich man thought, My children are taking no notice of me; they are bewitched
by their play. But the house is already blazing with this huge fire. If I and my children do
not get out at once, we are certain to be burned. I will have to invent some way or another
to ensure that the children escape harm.
So the father knowing his children, knowing which toys and playthings that each child
liked and delighted in, called out to them, Here are the kind of playthings you like,
which are so hard to find. If you dont come and get them now when you can, you will be
sorry for it later. I have all sorts of goat-carts, deer-carts, and ox-carts for you to play
with; they are all outside the gate now where you can play with them. So hurry up, you
must come quickly out of this burning house. Then whatever ones you want, I will give
them to you!
When the children heard their father telling them about these attractive toys, and because
the carts were just what they wanted, every one of them eagerly, pushing and shoving one
another, came wildly dashing out of the burning house.
When the rich man saw that all his children were safe and no longer in danger, and were
all waiting in the square, he sat down greatly relieved and ecstatic with joy. Then the
children asked their father, The lovely toys you promised that we could play with, the
goat-carts and deer-carts and ox-carts please give them to us now!
Shariputra, then the rich man gave to each of his children a large chariot , high and
spacious, adorned with all manner of precious things, surrounded with railed seats, hung
with bells on its four sides, and covered with curtains, splendidly decorated with precious
jewels, hung with garlands of flowers, thickly spread with beautiful carpets and vermilion
cushions. Each chariot was yoked with pure white bullocks, handsome and strong,
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capable of pulling the chariot smoothly, and also with the speed of the wind. Each chariot
had many grooms and servants to attend and guard it.
What was the reason for this? The rich man thought to himself, My wealth is limitless
and I have many kinds of storehouses that are all filled and over-flowing; it would not be
right if I were to give my children small carts of inferior make. These are my ch ildren and
I love them equally. So each child, filled with excitement, mounted his large chariot,
gaining something he had never had before, something he had originally never expected,
and was free to play and roam as he wished without hindrance.
Shariputra, what do you think of this? Has that elder, in only giving to his children great
chariots adorned with rare jewels, been guilty of falsehood or not?
Ananda: Then Shariputra replied to the Buddha:
Shariputra: No, World-honoured One. This rich man simply made it possible for his
children to escape the peril of the fire. He did not commit a falsehood. Why do I say this?
Because in having their lives saved, the children already obtained a plaything of sorts.
World-honoured One, even if the rich man had not given them the tiniest cart, he would
still not be guilty of falsehood. Why? Because this rich man from the outset had made up
his mind that he would use an expedient to cause his children to escape. Using a device of
this kind was no act of falsehood. How much less so then, when the rich man, knowing
that his wealth was limitless and he intended to enrich and benefit his children, gives to
each of them a marvellous chariot.
Ananda: The Buddha then said to Shariputra:
The Buddha: Very good, very good! It is just as you say. Shariputra, the Tathagata is like
this, for he is a father to all the world. He is born into this triple world, a burning house,
rotten and old, to save living beings from the fires of birth, old age, sickness and death,
grief, suffering, stupidity, darkness, and the three poisons, to teach them to attain Perfect
Enlightenment.
He sees living beings scorched by the fires of suffering, undergoing many kinds of pain
because of their five desires and their greed for wealth. He sees how, through striving
after their desires and attachments, they undergo numerous pains in their present
existence, and later how they suffer the pain of being reborn in hell or as beasts or hungry
spirits. And even if they are reborn in the heavenly realm or the realm of human beings,
there are all kinds of sufferings, such as the pain of poverty and want, the pain of being
parted from loved ones, the bitterness of encountering those they detest.
Yet living beings, drowning in the midst of all this, delight and amuse themselves,
unaware, unknowing, without alarm or fear. They feel no sense of loathing and make no
attempt to escape. In this burning house which is the triple world, they race about here
and there, and though they encounter great sufferings, they remain unconcerned. When
the Buddha sees this, he reflects thus, I am the father of living beings. I must rescue
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them from their sufferings and give them the bliss of the measureless and boundless
Buddha-wisdom to play with.
Shariputra, the Tathagata also has this thought, If I should only employ supernatural
power and wisdom, casting aside every expedient and extol for all creatures the
Tathagatas insight, power and freedom from fear, then they would not by this be saved.
Why? Because these living beings have not yet escaped from birth, old age, sickness,
death, grief and suffering, but are consumed by flames in the burning house that is the
triple world. How could they understand the Buddhas wisdom?
Shariputra, just as that rich man, although he had strength in his body and arms and yet
did not use it, but resolutely resorts to a carefully contrived expedient to rescue his
children from the peril of the burning house, so it is with the Tathagata. Though he
possesses power and fearlessness, he does not use these. Instead he merely employs wise
expedients to rescue living beings from the burning house of the triple world saying, You
must come out of this triple world with its coarse and shoddy forms so that you can
acquire the three vehicles, the vehicles of the sravaka, the pratyekabuddha and the
Buddha. Mounted on these three vehicles, you will perfect faculties, powers, perceptions,
samadhis, paths and emancipations and become happy and gain incalculable peace and
joy. This I guarantee, and that promise will never prove false.
And furthermore, just as that rich man, first used three types of carts to entice his
children, but seeing that they had all escaped from the burning house safely and were no
longer threatened, recalled that his wealth was immeasurable and presented each of them
with just the great chariot adorned with jewels, the safest, most comfortable kind of all,
so the Tathagata does likewise. Just as that rich man was not guilty of falsehood, the
Tathagata is without falsehood. Being the father of all living beings, the Tathagata has
this thought, I possess measureless, boundless wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the
storehouse of the Dharma of the Buddhas. Living beings are all my children. I will give
the Great Vehicle to all of them equally so that there will not be those who gain nirvana
for themselves, but that all may do so by way of the nirvana of the Tathagata.
Shariputra, the Tathagata is capable of giving to all living beings the Teaching of the
Great Vehicle. But, not all of them are capable of receiving it. For this reason you should
understand that the Buddhas employ the power of expedient means. And because they do
so, they make distinctions in the one Buddha vehicle and preach it as three.

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Chapter 4: Belief And Understanding

Ananda: Then, at that time, when those venerable and wise disciples, Subhuti, Mahakatya-yana, Maha-kashyapa, and Maha-maudgalya-yana had heard the Buddha talk of
that unprecedented Dharma, and hearing the World-honoured Ones prophecy that
Shariputra would attain Supreme Perfect Enlightenment, they were struck with wonder
and ecstatic joy. At once they rose from their seats, and arranging their robes
appropriately, bent their right knees to the ground. Pressing their palms together they
bowed respectfully, and then gazing up in reverence at the face of the Honoured One,
they said to the Buddha:
Subhuti: We stand at the head of the bhiksus and all of us are advanced in years. We
believed that we had already attained nirvana and that there was nothing further to do,
and so we never sought to attain Supreme Enlightenment. It has been a long time since
the World-honoured One first began to expound the Dharma. Since that time we have
been meditating solely on the concepts of emptiness, non-form and non-action. But as to
the Bodhisattva-Dharma, its pleasures and transcendental powers, or of the purifying of
Buddha lands and of the salvation of living beings in these our minds took no joy. Why
is this? Because the World-honoured One had made it possible for us to transcend the
triple world and to attain the enlightenment of nirvana. Moreover, being old and decrepit,
when we heard of Supreme Perfect Enlightenment, which the Buddha uses to teach and
convert the Bodhisattvas, our minds were not filled with any enthusiasm. But now in the
presence of the Buddha we have heard this sravaka receive a prophecy that he will attain
Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. We are greatly delighted; we have gained what we never
had before. Suddenly we have heard a teaching so rarely encountered, something that we
never expected. We are profoundly fortunate to have gained great goodness and benefit,
an immeasurably rare jewel, something unsought that came of itself. World-honoured
One, we wish to tell a parable to make our meaning clear.
[The Parable of the Return Journey]
Maha-kashyapa: It is like a youth who, on attaining manhood, abandoned his father and
ran away. For a long time he lived in another country, for perhaps ten, twenty or more
years. As he grew older, he found himself increasingly poor and in need. He wandered
from place to place in search of clothing and food, roaming farther and farther afield.
The father meanwhile had been searching for his son without success and eventually had
taken up residence in a certain city. And at this time the father became powerful and very
wealthy, with immeasurable riches and treasures. Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, corals, amber,
crystal and other gems all filled and overflowed from his storehouses. He had many
grooms and menservants, clerks and attendants, and elephants, horses, carriages, oxen,
and herds beyond number. His business ventures extended far and wide, and his traders
and customers were constantly coming and going. He was held in high esteem and
affection by the king, ministers and noble families. For all these reasons his guests were
many.

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Meanwhile the impoverished son roamed from place to place, scraping his livelihood
together, until at last he came by chance to the great city where his father had settled.
Although they had been parted for a long time the father thought constantly of his son
but, he had never told anyone else about the matter. He merely pondered to himself, his
heart filled with sadness, regret and longing. He thought to himself, Im old and worn; I
have great wealth and possessions: gold, silver, and rare treasures; my granaries and
storehouses are overflowing. But I do not have my son. One day I will die, and all my
wealth and possessions will be scattered and lost, for I have no-one to entrust them to.
In this way hed constantly reflect, and earnestly repeat to himself, If only I could find
my son and entrust my wealth and possessions to him, how contented and happy I would
be!
Maha-katya-yana: World-honoured One, one day the son, drifting from one kind of
employment to another, famished, weak and gaunt, covered with scab and itch, came by
chance to his fathers mansion. As he stood at the outer gate, in the distance he was
amazed to see a rich man (whom he did not recognise as his father), seated on a lion
throne, his legs supported by a jewelled foot-rest, while Brahmins, noblemen, and
householders, uniformly deferential, surrounded him. Festoons of pearls worth thousands,
or tens of thousands, adorned his body; and clerks, grooms, and menservants holding
white fly whisks stood in attendance to left and right. A jewelled canopy covered him,
with flowered banners hanging from it, perfumed water had been sprinkled over the
ground, heaps of rare flowers were scattered about and precious objects were ranged here
and there. Clerks came and went, some counting up gold, silver and precious things, some
recording in ledgers incoming and outgoing goods, and noting down bonds. Such were
the rich mans many different types of adornments, the emblems of prerogative and marks
of distinction.
When the son saw how great was the rich mans power and authority, he was filled with
fear and awe and regretted he had ever come to such a place. In some alarm, he thought t o
himself, This must be some king, or very powerful man. This is not the sort of place
where I can hire out my labour and gain a living. It would be better to go to some poor
village where, if I work hard, I will find a place and can easily earn food and clothing. If I
stay here for long, I may be seized and pressed into service! With this in mind, he
hurried away.
But, his father, seated on his lion throne, had instantly spied his son recognising him
immediately. His heart was filled with great joy and at once he thought, My thoughts
have constantly been with this son of mine, but I had no way of seeing him. But now
quite unexpectedly he has come, and my longing is satisfied. Though worn with years, I
yearn for him as of old. Now at last I have someone to whom I can give my wealth!
Immediately he dispatched an attendant to go after the son as quickly as possible and
bring him back. When the attendant caught up with the son, he laid hold of him. The poor
man, surprised and scared, cried out angrily, I have done nothing wrong! Why am I
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being seized? But the attendant held on to him all the more tightly and forcibly started to
drag him back.
The son, thinking to himself, Im innocent! I have not committed any crime; why should
I be arrested? Surely I am going to be put to death! was so terrified that he sank to the
ground, and fainted with despair.
His father, observing this from a distance, immediately sent a messenger, saying, Leave
the man alone; I have no need of him. Sprinkle cold water on his face so he will regain
his senses. Then say nothing more to him!
Why did he do that? Because the father, seeing that his sons disposition was now so
humble, knew his own rich and eminent position could only cause his son more distress.
Whilst knowing very well that this was his son, he tactfully refrained from saying to
anyone, This is my son.
When the son had revived, the messenger said to him, Youre free to go now, wherever
you wish. Delighted the son quickly left to look for food in some poor village.
Then the father, hoping to entice his son back again, decided to resort to a device. So he
sent two of his attendants, men who were lean, haggard and shabby in appearance, saying
to them, Go and find that poor man; approach him casually. Tell him you know a place
where he can earn twice the regular wage. If he agrees, then bring him here and put him
to work. If he wants to know what sort of work he will be put to, say that he is hired to
move dung and filth, and that the two of you will be working with him.
The two men then set out at once to find the son, and when they had done so, put their
proposition to him. The son, getting his wages in advance, decided to join them in their
work.
From that day the father secretely gazing out his window would constantly observe his
son, his body, gaunt and emaciated, filthy with dust and sweat, and from the dung and
excrement he was clearing away. When the father saw how happily his son engaged in
this menial work, he was struck with both pity and amazement.
From time to time the father would take off his necklaces, his soft fine garments and his
other adornments, and disguising himself in clothes that were ragged and soiled, he would
smear dirt on his body. Carrying a dung-hod and acting as a foreman, he would gruffly
order the labourers around saying, Get on with your work! Dont be lazy! By this
device, he was able to approach his son.
After some time had passed, the rich man called his son to him and said, Now then,
young man! You stay and work here; you have no need to go elsewhere! I will increase
your wages, and give you whatever you need, whether it is food, clothes or bedding; I
also have an old servant I can lend you whenever you need him. Set your mind at ease: I
will be like a father to you, so you need worry no further. Why do I say this? You are not
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like the other workers: all the time youve been working here, you have never been
deceitful, lazy, angry or grumbled. I am getting old, but you are still young and sturdy.
From now on, I will treat you like my own son. And then the rich man gave his son a
new name, treating him as if he were his own child, allowing him to come and go in his
own house.
Whilst the son was delighted at this turn of events, he nevertheless still thought of himself
as a menial worker. Because of this, he continued in his original job, clearing away
excrement for a long time, and continued to live in his grass hut outside the rich man s
gates. But during this time, the sons self-confidence became stronger and, feeling that he
was understood and trusted, he came and went at ease.
Maha-maudgalya-yana: World-honoured One, one day the father fell ill, and bearing in
mind that he might soon die, he spoke to his son, saying, I have great quantities of gold,
silver, and rare treasures that fill and overflow from my storehouses. I want you to
become my steward, to take complete charge of the accounting, the income and
expenditure. So you must keep your wits about you and see that there are no mistakes or
losses. This is what I have in mind, and I want you to carry out my wishes.
So the son, taking up his new job, took over attending to all the rich mans goods, gold,
silver, rare treasures, and various storehouses. In spite of all this wealth he never once
thought of appropriating for himself so much as the cost of a single meal. Indeed, he still
continued to live where he had before, and at first was unable to abandon his sense of
inferiority.
Nevertheless as time passed, the father saw that his son was bit by bit becoming more
self-assured and that with a changing view of himself he was become more ambitious and
ashamed of his former low opinion of himself. Realising that his own end was fast
approaching, the father ordered his son to arrange a meeting with his relatives, as well as
the kings representative, high ministers, and noblemen. When they were all gathered
together, the father addressed this great assembly saying, Gentlemen, know that this is
my son, who was born to me. It is over fifty years since from a certain city he left me and
ran away, and for a long time he wandered about suffering hardship. But by chance, we
met up again. This is in truth my son, and I in truth am his father. Now everything that
belongs to me, all my wealth and possessions, shall belong entirely to this son of mine.
When the son heard his father speak, he was overjoyed at this unexpected news, and he
thought to himself, Although I have never thought to want or look for such wealth, now
it has come of its own accord!
Subhuti:
World-honoured One! The Buddha likewise,
Knowing our fondness for the petty,
Has never before told us
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You shall become Buddhas!

We all, during a long night,
After the true Buddha-wisdom
Never aspired nor sought.
For we, in regard to the Dharma
Thought we had reached finality.
We kept to the dharma of Sunyata
Throughout the long night of time,
Escaping from the triple worlds
Burden of suffering and care,
And dwelt in our final existence,
Where form only remains.
Without doubt, we thought,
To have won the Way
By the Buddha taught,
And thereby the Buddhas grace to repay.
Although teaching the bodhisattva-dharma,
In that we had no hope.
Our Leader saw and let us be,
For into our minds he looked,
And sought not to stir our zeal
By telling of our true Gain.
Just as the rich elder,
By his own tactfulness,
Knowing his sons lower bent,
Softens and moulds his mind,
So that later to him
All his riches he can bequeath,
So is it with the Buddha
In the display of his treasures;
Knowing those by trifles pleased,
Yet by skilful devices
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Tames he their minds,

And only then teaches the greater wisdom.
To-day we have obtained
What we never had before;
What we previously never looked for,
We have unforeseen obtained,
Just as that poor son
Received inestimable treasures.
World-honoured One!
Steeped in the Buddha Dharma,
For long time have we kept
The Dharma-rajas pure discipline,
Thereby through faultless Dharma,
Attaining to clear vision.
But to-day for the first time
Have we won the Fruit of the Way;
Today we attain the faultless,
Peerless Great Fruit.
Now at last we are
Truly Arhats.
Now at last we are
Truly hearers of the Sound,
Who sing the song of Buddha-Way
For all creatures to hear.
The World-honoured One,
In his great loving-kindness,
With rare and precious things,
Compassionate, instructs
And confers benefits on us;
Through countless kotis of kalpas,
Who could ever repay him?
Service of hands and feet,
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Homage all prostrate,

Every kind of offering,
Are all unable this to repay.
Buddhas, Dharma-rajas,
With powers rare and inconceivable,
Boundless and infinite,
Faultless and ineffable,
For the sake of inferior minds,
Are effortlessly patient;
To common folk, attached to externals,
They teach as befits them.
Exercising complete freedom in the Dharma,
Appraised of living beings desires,
Their pleasures and aspirations,
So, according to their capacity,
The Buddhas, by innumerable parables,
To them they teach the Way.
According as all the living
Have planted wholesome roots,
Knowing the mature from the immature,
And discerning the fruits of each,
The Buddha discriminating,
As is most befitting,
Thereby for the sake of the One Vehicle,
Teaches it as the Three.

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Chapter 5: The Parable Of The Medicinal Herbs

Ananda: At that time the World-honoured One said to Mahakashyapa and the other major
disciples:
The Buddha: Excellent, excellent, Kashyapa. You have described truly the real merits of
the Tathagata. Know Kashyapa! The Tathagata is the Dharma-raja. Whatever he teaches
is free from falsity; he expounds all teachings with wise expediency. The Tathagata
understands the workings of the innermost hearts of all living beings, penetrating them
completely and without hindrance. He observes and understands the end to which all
doctrines tend. And his teaching always leads towards Supreme Perfect Enlightenment.
Kashyapa!
It is like unto a great cloud
Rising above the world,
Covering all things everywhere,
A gracious cloud laden with moisture;
Lightning-flames flash and dazzle,
A voice of thunder vibrates afar,
Bringing joy and ease to all.
The suns rays are veiled,
And the earth is cooled;
The clouds masses lower and spread
As if to be touched;
It rains down equally
Descending on all sides,
Streaming and pouring unstinted,
Permeating the land everywhere:
Whether by mountain-stream,
River, ravine, or cavern.
Wherever grow plants and trees,
Both great and small,
Thickets, groves and bushes,
Medicinal herbs of many kinds;
Grape-vine and sugar-cane,
The shoots of the ripening grain,
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Each in their different soils,

Each with its own name and hue,
The rain moistens them all.
All are abundantly enriched;
The parched ground soaked,
Everywhere herbs and trees grow lush.
From the one water which
Issues from that cloud,
Plants, trees, thickets, forests,
According to need receive moisture.
All the various trees,
Lofty, medium, low,
Each according to its size,
Sprouts and grows
Roots, stalks, branches, leaves,
Blossoms and fruits in their brilliant colours.
Wherever the one rain reaches,
All become fresh and glossy.
According as their bodies, forms
And natures are great or small,
So the enriching rain,
Though one and the same rain,
Yet causes each to flourish.
In like manner also the Buddha
Appears here in the World,
Like unto a great cloud
Universally covering all things;
And having appeared in the world,
He, for the sake of the living,
Discriminates and proclaims
The truth regarding phenomena.
The Great Sage that World-honoured One
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Among gods and men

And among other beings - declares:
I am the Tathagata,
Most Honoured among men;
I appear in the world
Like unto this great cloud,
To pour enrichment on
Parched living beings - one and all,
To free them from their misery,
To attain the joy of peace,
Joys of this world
And joy of Nirvana.
Gods, men, and every one!
Hearken well with mind attentive,
Behold the Peerless Honoured One
Who cannot be equalled!
I appear in the world,
To give rest to every creature,
And to the hosts of the living teach,
The Dharma, pure as sweet dew,
Of one flavour, the Dharma
Of deliverance and Nirvana,
With one transcendent voice
Forever unfolding the means
For the Great Way.
Upon all I ever look
Everywhere impartially,
Without distinction of persons,
Or mind of love or hate.
I am without greed or attachment
Without limitation or hindrance.
Ever to all beings
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I teach the Dharma equally;

As I teach to one person,
So I teach to all.
Going, coming, sitting, standing,
Untiringly engaged in naught else,
Ever I proclaim the Dharma.
Like the all-moistening rain
On honoured and humble, high and low,
Precept-keepers and -breakers alike,
Those of perfect character,
And those of imperfect,
Orthodox and heterodox,
Quick witted and dull witted,
Equally on all
I rain down the Dharma,
Pouring it copiously
On the world unwearyingly.
Know, Kashyapa
The Dharma taught by the Buddha
Is like this great rain-cloud,
Whose rain of one flavour
Moistens human flowers,
By which each bears its own fruit.
Kashyapa, by various expedients
Such as simile and parable,
I demonstrate the Buddha Way.
For you and others,
I now teach the highest truth:
What you tread is the Bodhisattva-path,
By whose learning and practise,
You shall all achieve Buddhahood.

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Chapter 7: The Magic City

Ananda: Thereupon, the World-honoured One addressed the great assembly, saying:
The Buddha: Bhiksus, when a Tathagata knows that the time has come to enter nirvana,
and knows that the members of the assembly are pure, firm in faith and discernment,
thorough in their comprehension of the Dharma of Sunyata and deeply entered into
meditation practice, then he will call together the assembly of Bodhisattvas and sravakas
and will teach this Saddharma-puarka Stra to them. In the world there is no second
vehicle for attaining nirvana; there is only the one Buddha vehicle for such attainment.
Bhiksus, you must understand this. The Tathagata in his use of expedient means
penetrates deeply into the nature of living beings. He knows how their minds delight in
trifling things and how deeply they are attached to human desires. Knowing they are like
this, when the Tathagata teaches nirvana, he does so in such a way that those hearing it
can readily believe and accept it.
[The Parable of the Magic City]
Suppose there is a stretch of bad road of great length, steep and difficult, barren, without
water, wild and deserted, inhabited by venomous beasts, a truly fearful place to men. And
suppose there is a large company wishing to pass along that road so they can reach a
place where there are rare treasures. And suppose they have a guide, thoroughly
acquainted with the perilous road, wise, astute, clear-headed, of resolute mind, who
wishes to lead them through this arduous region.
But on the way the group becomes weary and disheartened and they say to the leader,
We are utterly exhausted and moreover frightened as well. We cannot go any farther.
Since there is still such a long way to go, we would like to turn back.
Their guide, a man of great resourcefulness, thinks to himself, These wretches are to be
pitied! How can they abandon such a fortune of rare treasure as they are seeking and want
to turn back! Reflecting in this way he decides to resort to a devise. In the midst of the
perilous road, he conjures up a great walled city with massive gates and lofty towers, its
mansions splendidly adorned by gardens and groves, streams, lakes and bathing pools. He
says to the company, Dont be afraid! You must not turn back, for here is a great city
where you can stop and rest. Enter this city and quickly restore yourselves. Later when
you feel you can go on to the place where the treasure is, you can leave the city.
Then the group, being utterly exhausted, are overjoyed at such an unprecedented event
and exclaim, Now indeed we can escape from this dreadful road and find ease and
tranquillity! So they press forward and enter the city where, feeling that they have been
saved from their difficulties, they settle in comfort.
After some time, when they are all rested and are no longer fearful or weary, the leader
makes the magical city disappear, saying to the group, We must go now; the treasure is
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close by. That great city was a mere phantom that I conjured up so that you could rest. I
saw that you were tired and going to turn back mid-way. But now you must press forward
with diligence so that you reach the place of treasure.
Bhiksus! So it is with the Tathagata. He acts as a great Guide for you all. He well knows
that the hard road of birth and death and earthly desires is steep, difficult, long and far stretching, but that it must be travelled, it must be passed over. He also knows that if
living beings hear only of the one Buddha vehicle, then they will not want to see the
Buddha, will not want to draw near him, but will be disheartened thinking to themselves,
The Buddha-way is long and far-stretching; only after the long suffering of arduous
labour can the end be reached!
The Buddha knows that the minds of living beings are timid and weak, and so, as an
expedient, he teaches two stages of Nirvana in order to provide a resting place along the
way. But if living beings choose to remain in the secondary stage, then the Tathagata will
say to them, You have not yet accomplished your task. Although this place where you
choose to remain is close to the Buddha-wisdom, you should consider and ponder further
that this nirvana that you have attained is not the real one! It is simply that the Tathagata,
as an expedient, has made distinctions within the one Buddha vehicle. In this way the
Buddha is just like the guide who, when he knew that the travellers were rested, s aid to
them, The place of treasure is nearby. This city is not real. It is merely something I
conjured up.

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Chapter 8: Prophecy Of Enlightenment

Ananda: Thereupon the arhats in the assembly reflected to themselves, We rejoice at
gaining what we have never had before. If the World-honoured One should give each of
us a prophecy of enlightenment such as he has given to his other major disciples, would
that not be cause for delight? The Buddha, knowing that this thought was in their minds,
said to Mahakashyapa,
The Buddha: On these arhats who are now before me I will one by one bestow a prophecy
that they will attain Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. Among this assembly is a major
disciple of mine, the monk Kaundinya. He will offer alms to sixty-two thousand million
Buddhas, and after that will himself become a Buddha. His name will be Universal
Light Tathagata, and he will be Worthy of offerings, Fully and Perfectly Awake,
Equipped with Knowledge and Practice, Happily Attained, Guide Unsurpassed of Men to
Be Tamed, Peerless Leader, Teacher of gods and men, Buddha, World-honoured One.
Five hundred arhats, including Uru-vilva-kashya-pa, Gaya-kashya-pa, Nadi-kashya-pa,
Kalo-dayin, U-dayin, Ani-ruddha, Revata, Kap-phina, Bakkula, Chunda, Sva-gata, and
the others, will all attain Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. All will have the same name,
being called Universal Light.
Ananda: Then these five hundred arhats, hearing this prediction in the presence of the
Buddha, were ecstatic with joy, and immediately rising from their seats, they made
obeisance at the feet of the Buddha, touching their heads to the ground. Rebuking
themselves, they confessed their error saying, World-honoured One, we always used to
think of ourselves that we had attained final nirvana. But now we know that we were
ignorant. Why? Because, although we were capable of attaining the wisdom of the
Tathagata, we contented ourselves with petty wisdom.
[The Parable of the Jewel in the Garment]
Kaundinya: World-honoured One, it is like the story of the man who goes to the house of
a close friend and, after getting drunk on wine, falls asleep. Meanwhile his friend, having
to go out on official business, sews a priceless jewel as a gift into the lining of the drunk
mans robe. The man being drunk and asleep knows nothing of what has happened. When
he has recovered, he sets off on a journey to another country. But encountering great
hardship, he has to work very hard and make do with what little he can come by in order
to make ends meet.
Later, quite by chance he happens to meet his old friend. But his friend, seeing his
condition, remonstrates with him saying, Alas Sir! How have you come to this merely
for the sake of food and clothing? Wishing for you to be in comfort and to live in ease, on
such-and-such a day and month and year I took a priceless jewel and sewed it into the
lining of your robe. It must still be there now. You in your ignorance are slaving and
wearing yourself out trying to make a living. How foolish! Take the jewel and exchange
it for what you need, and never experience poverty or want again.
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Like this also were we, and

Like this friend is the Buddha.
The World-honoured One, compassionate,
Throughout the long night of time
Has taught us to cultivate
The seeds of supreme aspiration;
But, we being ignorant,
Neither perceived nor knew it;
The way of the arhat attained,
We supposed we had gained extinction.
Gaining but a glimpse of Nirvana,
Contented we sought no more.
Now the Buddha awakens us,
Saying, This is not real Nirvana;
In attaining supreme Buddha-wisdom,
Does real Nirvana lie.
Now we, hearing from the Buddha
Our prediction and its glory,
Body and soul oflow with joy.

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Chapter 10: The Teacher Of The Law

Ananda: Then the World-honoured One addressed the great assembly through the
Bodhisattva Bhaisajya-raja, saying,
The Buddha: Bhaisajya-raja, do you see in this great assembly incalculable devas, nagas,
yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, human and nonhuman
beings, as well as bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas, those who seek to become
sravakas, those who seek to become pratyekabuddhas, and those who seek the Buddha
way? If any of these various kinds of beings who in the presence of the Buddha listen to
one single gatha or a single phrase of the Saddharma-puarka Stra and even for a
moment think of it with joy, I predict that they will attain Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment.
Furthermore, if, after the Tathagata has passed into extinction, there should be anyone
who listens to the Saddharma-puarka Stra, even one verse or one phrase, and for a
moment thinks of it with joy, likewise I predict that they will attain Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment. Again, if there be any who receives, keeps, reads, recites, expounds or
copies even a single verse of this Saddharma-puarka Stra, and looks upon it with
reverence as if it were the Buddha, making offerings to it in various ways with flowers,
perfume, garlands, sandal-wood, incense for burning, silk-canopies, banners, flags,
garments and music, or even pays homage to it with folded hands, know, Bhaisajya-raja,
it is a sign that these people have already paid homage to ten myriad kotis of Buddhas,
and in those Buddhas presence taken a great vow: therefore out of compassion for all
living beings, they are born among men.
Bhaisajya-raja, it is like a man who, parched with thirst, searches for water by digging in
a tableland. So long as he sees that the soil is dry he knows that water is still far away.
But if he does not cease his efforts, bit by bit he sees the soil becoming damper, until
gradually he has works his way into mud. Seeing this he is determined in his mind to go
on, for he knows that he is bound to be nearing water.
The way of the Bodhisattva is the same as this. This storehouse of the Saddharmapuarka Stra is hidden deep and far away where no person can reach it. But now the
Buddha has revealed it for instructing and perfecting the Bodhisattvas. As long as a
person has not yet heard, not yet understood, and not yet been able to practise this
Saddharma-puarka Stra, then you should know that that person is still far away from
Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. But if any is able to hear, understand, ponder and
practise the Stra, then you should know that they can draw near to Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment. Why? Because in all cases Bodhisattvas, who attain Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment, do so through this Stra. This Stra opens the way from the expedient,
partial method to the full revelation of truth and reality.
Should any desire to recite this Stra,
Undaunted amidst the multitude
Let him enter the Tathagata abode,
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And wearing the Tathagata robe,

Sit on the Tathagata throne.
Great compassion is the abode,
Gentleness and patience the robe,
The emptiness of all dharmas the throne.
Abiding in these, let him delight
In sounding the drum of the true Dharma.

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Chapter 11: The Revelation Of The Jewelled Stupa

Ananda: And then suddenly in front of the Buddha a stupa of stupendous size and
magnificence sprang up out of the earth and came to rest suspended in mid-air above the
assembly. The stupa was five hundred yojanas in height and two hundred and fifty
yojanas in width and depth. It was made of the seven precious treasures of gold, silver,
lapis-lazuli, moon-stone, agate, pearl and carnelian, being built with thousands of
recesses, parapets and railings. It was splendidly adorned with countless canopies,
streamers, flags and banners, all made with the seven precious substances. It was hung
with festoons of jewels, and myriads of jewelled bells were suspended from it. The
exquisite fragrance of the rare tamalapattra sandalwood emanated from it pervading the
whole world.
Then the gods of the Trayastrimsha heaven rained down heavenly mandarava flowers as
an offering to the jewelled stupa, and the vast assembly of devas, nagas, yakshas,
gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, human and nonhuman beings made
offerings of all manner of flowers, perfumes, garlands, streamers and delightful music,
extolling the precious stupa with reverence, honour and praise.
Thereupon from the midst of the jewelled stupa came a mighty voice, speaking words of
praise:
Prabhutaratna: Excellent! How excellent, World-honoured kyamuni, that for the sake
of the great assembly you teach the Saddharma-puarka Stra of Great Universal
Wisdom, by which Bodhisattvas are instructed, a teaching guarded and kept in mind by
the Buddhas! Thus it is, World-honoured kyamuni! Truly it is just as you say! All that
you have expounded is the truth!
Ananda: Then the fourfold assembly all experienced the joy of the Dharma, marvelling at
this unprecedented event that they had never known before. Rising from their seats, and
with their palms together in reverence, they withdrew to one side.
Meanwhile the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Mahapratibhana, understanding the question in
the minds of those assembled, said to the Buddha:
Mahapratibhana: World-honoured One, for what reason has this stupa risen up out of the
earth? And why does this voice issue from its midst?
The Buddha: Inside this precious jewelled stupa is the complete body of a Tathagata.
Long ago, in the distant past, incalculable thousands of myriads of millions of asamkhyas
of worlds to the east, in a land called Ratnavisuddha, there was a Buddha by name
Prabhutaratna, or, Abundant Treasures. Earlier, when that Buddha was practising the
Bodhisattva Path, he made a great vow, saying, After I become a Buddha and have
entered parinirva, if there is anywhere in the universe where the Saddharma-puarka
Stra is taught, then let my stupa arise and appear in that spot, so that I can listen to the
Stra, and bear witness to it and praise its excellence. And so it is, that wherever in the
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universe the Saddharma-puarka Stra is taught, that Buddha, through the

transcendental powers of his vow, causes this precious jewelled stupa containing his
whole body to spring forth, appearing in the presence of those assembled, who hear his
voice praising the Stra saying, Excellent! excellent!
Ananda: Thereupon the Bodhisattva Mahapratibhana, knowing the supernatural powers of
the Tathagata, spoke to the Buddha, saying:
Mahapratibhana: World-honoured One, we earnestly wish to see the body of this
Buddha.
The Buddha: This Buddha Abundant Treasures has taken a profound vow, saying, If,
whenever my stupa appears in the presence of any Buddha so that I may listen to him
teaching the Lotus Stra, that World-Honoured One should wish to show me to his
fourfold assembly, then all the various Buddhas who are his emanations and who are
teaching the Dharma in the worlds of the ten directions must return and assemble in that
single spot. Only when that has been done will my body become visible.
Mahapratibhana: World-honoured One, I and the others assembled wish to see these
Buddhas that are emanations of the World-honoured One, and to make obeisance to them
and worship them.
Ananda: Then the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the curl of white hair between his
eyebrows, immediately making visible Buddhas in the eastern region in lands as
numerous as five hundred myriads of millions of nayutas of Ganges sands. In the
southern, western and northern regions as well, and in the four intermediate quarters,
wherever the beam of light from the Buddhas curl of white hair shone, the same was
true.
In all these lands, where the earth was of crystal and precious textures and adorned with
jewelled trees and hung with jewelled nets, there were countless millions of Bodhisattvas
with jewelled canopies stretched above them. The Buddhas in these lands accompanied
by immeasurable millions of Bodhisattvas could all be seen teaching the various
teachings of the Dharma with subtle, attractive voices.
At that time the Buddhas of the ten directions each spoke to his accompanying host of
Bodhisattvas, saying, Good Sons! We must now go to kyamuni Buddha in the Sahaworld, and pay homage to the precious Stupa of the Tathagata Abundant Treasures.
Thereupon this Saha-world instantly became pure; there were no villages, towns or cities,
oceans or rivers, streams or forests or any kingly ranges of mountains such as the
Mahamuchilinda Mountains, Great Iron Encircling Mountains, and Mount Sumeru. The
whole area comprised a single Buddha land, a jewelled region level and smooth. There
remained only the fourfold assembly, all other heavenly and human beings having been
moved to another region. With lapis lazuli for earth, cords of gold marked the grounds
eight quarters; everywhere was strewn with mandarava flowers and adorned with jewel Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras
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trees; jewelled nets, banners and curtains, hanging with jewel-bells, were spread above,
and the air was perfumed by most precious incense.
Then all the Buddhas, each with a great Bodhisattva to act as his attendant, started to
arrive in the Saha-world and each went to the foot of a jewel-tree. Each of these jewel
trees was five hundred yojanas high and adorned with branches, leaves, flowers and fruit
in due proportion. Under all the jewel-trees were lion seats five yojanas in height, also
decorated with magnificent jewels. Each Buddha sat crossed-legged on his own lionthrone, and in this way the seats were filled throughout the thousand-millionfold world.
But still there was no end to the emanations of kyamuni Buddha arriving from merely
one direction. So kyamuni Buddha, wishing to make room for all the Buddhas who had
emanated from himself, transformed two hundred ten thousand million nayutas of lands in
each of the eight directions of space, making them all pure. In this way, bit by bit, the
Buddhas from the ten directions all came, assembled and each were seated on their lionthrones beneath a jewel-tree.
Then each Buddha dispatched their attendant to go and greet kyamuni Buddha, each
sending a cupped double-handful of jewelled flowers, with the following instruction,
Noble son, you must go to Mount Grdhrakuta, the abode of kyamuni Buddha, and
speak to him as I instruct you. Say,
Are you in good health and free from disease and
illness? Is your strength unimpaired? And are your Bodhisattvas and sravakas all well and
at peace? Then scatter these jewelled flowers over the Buddha as an offering, and say,
The Buddha So-and-so joins in wishing that the Precious Stupa be opened.
When kyamuni Buddha saw all the Buddhas that were his emanations had assembled,
and heard all these Buddhas say that they wished to participate in the opening of the
Precious Stupa, he immediately rose up from his seat into midair. Likewise the fourfold
assembly stood up, and pressing their palms together, gazed at the Buddha with a single
mind.
Thereupon kyamuni Buddha with the fingers of his right hand opened the door of the
Stupa of Seven Treasures, which made a loud sound, like that of a crossbar b eing
withdrawn from a great city gate. At once all the members of the assembly caught sight of
the Tathagata Abundant Treasures seated on a lion throne inside the Stupa, his body
whole and unimpaired, sitting as if in meditation. And they heard him exclaiming:
Prabhutaratna: Excellent, excellent, kyamuni Buddha! It is well that you are teaching
this Saddharma-puarka Stra; it is to listen to it that I have come here.
Ananda: Then the Buddha Abundant Treasures offered half of his throne in the Precious
Stupa to kyamuni Buddha, saying:
Prabhutaratna: kyamuni Buddha, sit here!

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Ananda: kyamuni Buddha at once entered the Stupa and took half of the throne, seating
himself in cross-legged position. When the members of the great assembly saw that the
two Tathagatas were in the Stupa of seven treasures, they all thought to themselves:
These Buddhas are seated high up and far away! If only the Tathagatas would employ
their transcendental powers to enable all of us to join them there in the air!
Immediately kyamuni Buddha lifted all the members of the great assembly up into the
air. Then the fourfold assembly, observing the Buddha who had passed into parinirv a
immeasurable thousands, myriads, kotis of kalpas in the past, praised this unprecedented
marvel by scattering masses of heavenly jewelled flowers over the Buddha Abundant
Treasures and kyamuni Buddha. When this had been done, in a loud voice kyamuni
Buddha addressed the whole fourfold assembly in a great voice, declaring:
The Buddha: Who is capable of publishing abroad the Saddharma-puarka Stra in
this Saha-world? Now indeed is the time, for not long hence the Tathagata will enter
nirvana. The Buddha wishes to entrust this Stra of the White Lotus of the Real Truth
so that it may be preserved.
O Sons of the Buddha!
Who can guard the Dharma?
Let him make a great vow
To ensure it long endures!
Whosoever cares for this Dharma-Stra
Worships me, my emanated Buddhas,
And this Buddha Abundant Treasures,
Who with his Precious Stupa,
Journeys everywhere for this Stra.
All you, my good sons!
Let each carefully ponder
That this is a difficult task,
Needing a great vow.
All the other Stras,
Numerous as sands of Ganges,
Though one expounded them all,
Twould still not be counted hard.
But if, after the Buddhas extinction,
In the midst of an evil world,
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One should hear and receive this Stra

And search into its meaning,
Or should copy and keep,
Or cause another to copy,
Or is able to teach this Stra,
This indeed is hard.
He who in the future
Can read and keep this Stra,
Is truly a Buddha-son,
Dwelling in the stage of pure goodness.
After the Buddhas extinction,
He who can expound its meaning,
Will be the eye of the world
For both gods and men.
He who, in the last age of fear,
Can teach it but for a moment,
By gods and men
Will be venerated.
I, on account of Buddhahood,
In innumerable lands
From the beginning until now,
Have expounded many Stras;
But, amongst them all,
This Stra is the chief.
If any one is able to keep it,
Then he keeps the Buddhas Body.
All you, my good sons!
Let him who, on my extinction,
Is able to receive and keep,
Read and recite this Stra,
Now in presence of the Buddha,
Himself announce his vow!
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This Stra so hard to keep,

If any should keep it
For but a short time,
I shall still be pleased.
Such a one as this
Will be praised by all the Buddhas;
Being the eyes of the world,
Such a one is brave,
Such a one is zealous.
Speedily shall he attain
To Supreme Buddhahood.

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Chapter 13: Encouraging Devotion

Ananda: Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahasattvas Bhaisajya-raja and Mahapratibhana
together with their retinues of myriads of Bodhisattvas joined their voices together and
made this vow:
Bhaisajya-raja and Mahapratibhana:
O World-Honoured One,
Our Guide and Teacher,
Comforter of Gods and men,
Hearing your prediction,
Perfect peace reigns in our hearts.
Pray be without anxiety!
After the Buddhas parinirva,
In the last dread evil age,
We will proclaim this Stra.
Though many ignorant men
Will with evil mouth abuse us,
And beat us with swords and staves,
We will endure it all.
Monks in that evil age,
Heretical, warped, suspicious,
Crying attained when they have not,
Will have minds full of arrogance.
Others - forest-dwellers
Will wear the patched robe in seclusion,
Thinking they walk the true path,
Scorn dwellers among men.
Others greedy for gain,
Will teach the Dharma to laymen
And be revered by the world as Arhats
Of the Six Transcendent Powers;
These men cherishing evil minds,
Ever thinking of earthly things,
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Assuming the name of Aranyas,

Will love to calumniate us,
Saying such words as these:
All these bhiksu-fellows,

Because of love of gain,
Teach a heretical doctrine,
Themselves have composed this Stra
To delude the people of the world;
For the sake of acquiring fame,
They specialise in this Stra.
Always in the assemblies,
In order that they may ruin us,
To kings and to their ministers,
To Brahmans and to citizens,
To the other groups of bhiksus,
Of us they will speak slanderously,
Saying:
These are men of false views,
Who proclaim heretical doctrines.
But, from reverence for Buddha,
We will endure those evils.
Though contemptuously addressed as
All you Buddhas!

Even such scorn and arrogance
We will patiently endure.
In the corrupt kalpas evil age
Abounding in fear and dread,
Devils will take possession of them
To curse, abuse and insult us.
But we, reverently believing in the Buddha,
Will wear the armour of long-suffering;
For the sake of teaching this Stra
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Every hard thing we will endure.

We will not love body nor life,
But care only for the Supreme Way.
In the presence of the World-honoured One
And the Buddhas from every direction,
Thus we make our vows,
And the Buddha knows our hearts.

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Chapter 14: Steadfastness

Ananda: Then the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Manjushri, the Dharmarajas crown-prince,
spoke to the Buddha, saying:
Manjushri: World-honoured One! Rare indeed are Bodhisattvas such as these, who out
of respectful duty to the Buddha, undertaking a task of such difficulty, make a great vow
that in the evil age hereafter they will guard, uphold, read, recite and teach this
Saddharma-puarka Stra. World-honoured One, how should these Bodhisattvamahasattvas go about expounding this Stra?
The Buddha: If any Bodhisattva-mahasattva desires to expound this Stra for the sake of
living beings in the evil age to come, he should practise four methods of steadfastness:
first, he should be steadfast in the spheres of conduct and intimates proper for a
Bodhisattva. Manjushri, what do I mean by the spheres of conduct and intimates of a
Bodhisattva?
The Bodhisattva takes his stand on kshanti, is gentle and agreeable, neither hasty nor
overbearing, and remains unperturbed being never alarmed at heart; he has no active
interest in worldly affairs, but sees all things as they truly are, not acting upon false
discrimination, always delighting in quiet surroundings, learning to still his mind and
sitting in meditation. There the Bodhisattva should remain tranquil, unmoving like Mount
Sumeru, constantly delighting in contemplating all phenomena as empty, just like space,
according to their true marks and as beyond the reach of words: nameless, formless,
unborn, unimpeded, incalculable, without volume, without limits, without barriers,
without constant abiding or extinction, without innate nature or true being; characterless,
not inverted, nor emerging, nor arising, nor moving, nor regressing, nor revolving;
existing solely through causes and conditions, their appearance born of wrong views;
from upside-downness come distinctions, that phenomena exist, or do not exist, are real,
or are not real, are born, or are not born.
Then the Bodhisattva-mahasattva,
Occupies his proper Sphere of Intimacy;
Ever avoiding rulers and and their heirs,
Great ministers and their officials,
And those who play dangerous games.
Consorting not with men of arrogance,
Precept-breakers Arhats in name alone ,
Nor with scholars deeply attached
To the Hinayana Tripitaka,
Nor with bhiksunis
Fond of banter and jocularity.
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But if such people, in goodness of their hearts,

Come to the Bodhisattva to hear the Buddha-Way,
Then the Bodhisattva with fearless heart,
Cherishing no expectation,
Should teach them the Dharma.
If there should be any disciple
Who, after my extinction,
Enters this Sphere of Conduct
And this Sphere of Intimacy,
When he teaches this Stra,
He will be freed from timid weakness.
When this Bodhisattva
Seeing things in their true meaning,
Rises from his meditation,
Whether to kings or nations,
Or princes, ministers and people,
To Brahmans or to others,
Opens up, expounds,
And teaches to them this Stra,
His mind shall be at ease
And free from timid weakness.
Manjusri!
This is the Bodhisattvas
First Method of Steadfastness,
By which he is able, in future ages,
To teach this Saddharma-puarka Stra.
Furthermore, Manjushri, after the Tathagatas parinirva, the Bodhisattva who wishes to
expound this Stra should practise the second and third methods of steadfastness, that of
heartfelt serenity, and of compassionate speech. If the Bodhisattva wishes to teach this
Stra, he must set aside pride, jealousy, hatred, and arrogance, as well as a mind that is
fawning, deceitful, false, and instead constantly practise honest and upright conduct. The
Bodhisattva should demolish thoughts of overweening pride and teach the Dharm a
without obstacles by thinking on the Buddhas and great Bodhisattva-mahasattvas with
respect and reverence, saying, These are my great teachers!
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Manjushri, when a son of the Buddha teaches the Dharma he is at all times gentle and full
of forbearance, having compassion on all, never giving way to a negligent or slothful
mind. When he is teaching, he takes no pleasure in fault-finding; nor does he disparage
other Dharma-teachers, speaking of their tastes or shortcomings; nor does he single out
disciples by name, neither exposing their mistakes nor praising them. Nor does he cause
others to have doubts or regrets by saying, You will never become a Buddha! Nor does
he look with contempt on others, arguing or holding frivolous debates on doctrine.
Instead by cultivating a serene heart, ever gentle and patient, the Bodhisattva ensures that
his listeners do not oppose him, answering those who ask difficult questions after the
manner of the Mahyna.
The wise man in ways such as these,
Rightly cultivates his mind,
And is able to abide serene.
The merit of such a man,
Thousands, myriads, kotis of kalpas
Spent in reckoning and comparison
Would not suffice for the telling.
Then again, Manjushri, the Bodhisattva practices the fourth steadfastness in the age
hereafter, when the Dharma is about to perish, toward those who are not Bodhisattvas,
and who are either still in the household life or those who have left the household life, by
cultivating a mind of great compassion, thinking: These persons simply missed the
Tathagatas expedient means, his exposition of the Dharma in accordance with what is
appropriate, not hearing it, nor being aware of it. But although these persons do not
inquire into it, do not believe and do not understand this Saddharma-puarka Stra,
when I have attained Supreme Perfect Enlightenment, wherever I may happen to be, I will
employ my transcendental powers and power of wisdom to draw them to me and cause
them to abide in this Dharma.
Manjushri,
It is like the powerful Wheel-rolling King
Who, to his war-distinguished soldiers,
Makes presents of many rewards:
Elephants, horses, carriages,
Palaquins, personal ornaments,
As well as fields and houses,
Villages and cities,
Or bestows garments,
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Various kinds of jewels,

Gold and other wealth,
Bestowing all with joy;
But only for one, heroic
And of rare exploits,
Does the king take from his head
The crown-jewel to give him.
Thus also is it with the Tathagata:
He is the Dharmaraja,
Possessing great powers of endurance
And the treasury of wisdom;
With great benevolence,
Seeing every human being
Suffering from pains and distresses,
Fighting against the Maras,
And seeking for deliverance,
He transforms the world with his teaching.
To these living beings,
In great tactfulness,
He has taught numerous Stras;
Finally knowing the living
Have attained developed powers,
At the very last he to them
Teaches this Lotus Stra.
As the king takes from his head
The jewel and bestows it,
So this Stra is preeminent
Among all the Stras.
After my parinirva,
Whoever seeks Buddhahood
And desires in serenity
To proclaim this Stra
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Will behold the wonderful:

Seen will be the Tathagatas,
Seated on Lion-Thrones,
Their golden bodies radiant
Illuminating all beings
With boundless light,
And heard will be their Brahma-voices,
Teaching the Supreme Truth.
In their midst, such a one
Praising Buddha with folded hands,
Will hear the Dharma with joy.

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Chapter 15: Emerging From The Earth

Ananda: When the World-honoured One had finished speaking, all the Bodhisattvamahasattvas who had gathered from the lands of the Buddhas who were emanations of
kyamuni Buddha, stood up in the midst of the great assembly, and bowing with their
palms pressed together, addressed the World-honoured One saying, World-honoured
One, if you will allow us, then in the age after the Buddhas parinirva, by diligently and
earnestly protecting, reading, reciting, copying and making offerings to this Stra, we will
teach it widely throughout this Saha-world! But the Buddha interrupted them, saying:
The Buddha: Enough! My good sons, there is no need for you to protect this Stra. Why?
Because in this Saha-world there are already Bodhisattva-mahasattvas as numerous as the
sands of sixty thousand Ganges. And furthermore, each one of these Bodhisattvas has a
retinue equal to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges. After I have entered parinirva all
these will protect, read, recite and widely teach this Stra.
Ananda: As soon as the Buddha had spoken these words, the earth of the thousandmillionfold lands of this Saha-world all trembled, quaked and split open, and from its
clefts emerged at the same instant immeasurable thousands, myriads of kotis of
Bodhisattva-mahasattvas. These Bodhisattvas had golden-hued bodies emanating a
boundless golden radiance; each one of these Bodhisattvas led his own great ass embly
equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges. Such were their numbers:
immeasurable, boundless, beyond comprehension through calculation, simile or parable.
On hearing the voice of kyamuni Buddha teaching, these Bodhisattvas sprung forth
from the open space where they all had been dwelling beneath the Saha-world, and each
proceeded to the wonderful Stupa of Seven Treasures suspended in the sky in which
Tathagata Abundant Treasures and kyamuni Buddha were seated. On reaching it, they
turned to the two World-honoured Ones and made obeisance at their feet. They then also
performed obeisance to the Buddhas seated on lion seats underneath the jewelled trees.
Thereupon, the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Maitreya wishing to resolve his own doubts,
pressing his palms together, turned to the Buddha and made this inquiry:
Maitreya:
World-honoured One! Of measureless Virtue
Only by you can our wonder be resolved.
We have never seen the like
Of this great Bodhisattva host,
Of countless myriads.
What is the course of their history?
Be pleased to tell, honoured of men,
Whence came they and why
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They are thus assembled?

Mighty of frame, transcendent in power,
Of wisdom inscrutable,
Strong of will and memory,
Firm in endurance,
Whom all rejoice to see Whence came they?
If anyone tried to keep tally
Through kalpas as Ganges sands
He still could not tell their number.
All these great, majestic,
Zealous Bodhisattva hosts Who has taught the Dharma to them,
Instructed and perfected them?
From every quarter of the riven earth
They spring forth from its midst.
World-honoured One! From of old
We have never witnessed such beings.
We know not a single one
Among this countless host,
Who suddenly spring from the earth.
Be pleased to tell us the cause!
The Buddha: Excellent! how excellent, that you should question the Buddha about this
great affair! All of you with a single mind and firm resolve should don the armour of
diligence, for the Tathagata now intends to reveal and declare the wisdom of the Buddhas,
the Buddhas mastery of transcendental power, their swift lion-like and awe-inspiring
strength of the powers.
Maitreya!
These Great Bodhisattvas,
Who from past numberless kalpas
Have observed the Buddha wisdom,
All of these are my disciples,
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Whose minds I have set on the Great Way.

These Bodhisattvas are my sons
Who dwell in this Buddha-world.
Ever practising the ascetic (dhuta) deeds,
Joyfully devoted to quiet places,
Shunning the clamour of crowds,
Taking no delight in much talk,
With no pleasure in many words,
They reject the assemblys fret and confusion.
Nor do they linger among heavenly beings,
But constantly delight in profound wisdom,
Being free from all hindrances.
All these sons of mine,
Learning and keeping the discipline of my Way
For the sake of seeking Buddhahood,
Are always zealous day and night.
They dwell below the Saha-world,
In the region of space beneath it.
Their minds devoid of any fear,
Firm in their powers of will and memory,
Ever diligent in seeking wisdom,
They teach every kind of mystic law.
I, near the city of Gaya,
Sitting beneath the Bodhi-tree,
Accomplished Perfect Enlightenment;
And rolling the supreme Dharma-wheel,
I then taught and converted them
And caused them to seek the One Way.
Now they all abide in the never-relapsing state,
And every one will become a Buddha.
What I now speak is the truth;
Believe it with a single mind!
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I from a long distant past

Have taught and trained all this host.
Ananda: Then the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Maitreya, as well as countless other
Bodhisattvas, were seized with doubt and perplexity, wondering at this unprecedented
event. They all puzzled to themselves, How could the World-honoured One in such a
short space of time have taught and converted such an immeasurable, countless number of
great Bodhisattvas of this sort? Addressing the Buddha, Maitreya said:
Maitreya: World-honoured One! The Tathagata not far from the city of Gaya sat in the
place of practice and there attained Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. But barely forty
years or more have passed since then. World-honoured One, how in that short time could
you have accomplished so much work? World-honoured One, such a claim the world will
find hard to credit! It is as if, for example, a young man of twenty-five, with fine
complexion and hair still black, should point to an old man of a hundred years and say,
This is my son! or that centenarian should point to the youth and say,
This is my father
who sired and raised me! This would be hard to believe, and so too is what the Buddha
says, since his attainment of the Way is in fact not been long. But these great hosts of
Bodhisattvas for numberless kalpas have already devoted themselves diligently an d
earnestly for the sake of the Buddha way. They have learned to enter into, emerge from
and dwell in immeasurable samadhis, have attained great transcendental powers, have
over a long period carried out noble practices; step by step they have practised al l manner
of practices, becoming skilled in questioning and answering, are treasures amongst men
and of extreme rarity. Yet today the World-honoured One tells us that, in the time since
he attained the Buddhahood, he has caused these persons for the first time to aspire to
enlightenment, has instructed, led and directed them toward Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment! World-honoured One, we beg you to explain this matter!

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Chapter 16: Revelation Of The Tathagatas (Eternal) Life

Ananda: Then the Buddha replied to the assembly:
The Buddha: Good men, believe and understand the truthful word of the Tathagata.
Ananda: He repeated these words three times. In response the great host of Bodhisattvas,
with the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Maitreya as their leader, pressed their palms together
and addressed the Buddha, saying:
Maitreya: World-honoured One, we beg you to explain; we will receive the Buddhas
words with faith. They spoke in this manner three times, and then said once more, We
beg you to explain; we will receive the Buddhas words with faith.
Ananda: At that time the World-honoured One, seeing that all in the assembly repeated
their request three times and more, spoke to them, saying:
The Buddha: Listen carefully and hear of the secret, mysterious, transcendental power of
the Tathagata. I will declare this plainly. All the worlds of devas, men and asuras declare:
kyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place
of practice not far from the city of Gaya and there attained Supreme Perfect
Enlightenment. But my good sons, it has been immeasurable, boundless myriads of kotis
of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood.
Suppose there were myriad kotis of numberless Three-Thousand-Great-Thousandfold
Worlds; let someone grind them to atoms, pass eastward through numberless countries,
and then drop one of those atoms; suppose he thus proceeded eastward till he had finished
those atoms what do you think, good sons, is it possible to imagine and calculate all
those worlds so as to know their number? Now suppose you take as atomised all those
worlds, and counting every place that an atom has been deposited, and everywhere that it
has not been deposited, as a kalpa, the time since I became the Buddha still surpasses
these by hundreds, thousands, myriads, kotis, nayutas of numberless kalpas. Ever since
then I have been constantly in this Saha-world, teaching the Dharma. And elsewhere I
have led and benefited living beings in myriads of kotis of asamkhyas of lands.
The Tathagata perceives the true character of the triple world exactly as it is. For him
there is no birth-and-death, nor going away nor coming forth; neither existing in this
world nor cessation; neither reality nor illusion, neither thus nor otherwise. Unlike the
way that those dwelling in the triple world perceive it to be, the Tathagata sees all such
things clearly and without error.
Good sons! all that I teach is true and not false. The Stras expounded by the Tathagata
are all for the purpose of saving and emancipating living beings whether they speak of
myself, or of others. During this time, I have spoken of the Buddha Dipankara an d other
Buddhas, and have told of their entering nirvana. Such distinctions I have made as an
expedient. In this way, whenever living beings come to me, with my Buddha eye I
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observe their faith and all their faculties, whether keen or dull, and then accord ing to their
capacity and attainment, I explain, in stage after stage, my different names, length of
lives, and describe the length of time during which my teachings will be effective, plainly
stating I must enter Nirvana. At other times I resort to different expedients to teach the
subtle and wonderful Dharma, thus causing living beings to awaken joyful hearts.
Why does the Tathagata do this? He employs a variety of similes, parables and reasonings
to teach the Dharma, firstly because living beings have different natures, different desires,
different actions and different ways of thinking and making distinctions, and secondly
because he wants them to produce wholesome roots. The Tathagata observes the
propensity of living beings toward lower things, being meagre in virtue and heavy with
defilement. For such persons I describe how in my youth I left my household and attained
Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. But in truth, as I have told you the time since I attained
Buddhahood is extremely long. It is simply that I use this expedient means to teach and
convert living beings so that they can enter the Buddha way. That is why I speak in this
manner. This, the Buddhas work, I have never for a moment neglected. Thus, since I
attained Buddhahood in the far distant past my life span is of numberless kalpas, forever
existing and immortal.
Now, although in fact I do not actually enter extinction, I announce that I am going to
adopt the course of extinction. This is an expedient means which the Tathagata uses to
teach and convert living beings. Why do I do this? Because if the Buddha remains in the
world for a long time, those persons with shallow virtue will fail to plant wholesome
roots but, living in poverty and lowliness, will become attached to the five desires a nd be
caught in the net of deluded thoughts and imaginings. If they see that the Tathagata is
constantly in the world and never enters extinction, they will either grow arrogant or
become lazy. And since they will not realise how difficult it is to encounter the Buddha,
they will not approach him with respect and reverence.
Therefore as an expedient means the Tathagata says, Bhiksus, you should know that it is
a rare thing to live at a time when one of the Buddhas appears in the world. When living
beings hear these words, they are certain to realise how difficult it is to encounter the
Buddha. In their minds they will cherish a longing and a thirst to gaze upon the Buddha;
thus they will work to plant roots of goodness. Therefore the Tathagata, though i n truth
he does not enter extinction, speaks of passing into extinction.
[The Parable of the Good Physician]
Good men! Suppose, for example, that there is a good physician who is wise and
perspicacious, conversant with medical art, and skilful in healing all sorts of diseases.
And he has many sons, say perhaps ten, twenty, or even a hundred. Then because of some
matter he goes abroad to some distant country. Some time after he has gone, the children
drink some kind of poison that makes them fall to the ground, where they roll about
delirious with pain. And this is how the physician finds them when he returns home: some
have lost their senses, while others on seeing their father approaching are overjoyed.
Kneeling down, they entreat him, saying, How good it is that you have returned safely.
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We were stupid and by mistake drank some poison. We beg you to cure us and restore our
health!
The father, seeing his children in such distress, gathers good medicinal herbs that meet all
the requirements of colour, fragrance and flavour, and then according to his prescriptions,
grinds, sifts and mixes them together. Giving a dose of these to his children, he tells
them, Take this excellent medicine, and you will quickly be relieved of your sufferings
and will be free of all illness.
Then those children who have not lost their senses, seeing the good medicine take it
immediately and are completely cured of their sickness. But those who are out of their
minds, although begging their father to cure their sickness, refuse to take the medicine.
Why? Because the poison has penetrated so deeply that they have lost their sanity. They
say that the medicine is no good.
The father thinks to himself:, Alas my poor children! Afflicted by this poison, their
minds are completely befuddled. Although happy to see me and asking me to cure them,
they refuse to take this excellent medicine. I must now devise some expedient to induce
them to take it. So he says to them, I am now worn out with old age, and the time of my
death has come. I will leave this good medicine here. You should take it and be confident
that it will cure you. Leaving them with these instructions, he then goes off to another
land, where he sends a messenger home to announce, Your father is dead.
When the children hear that their father has died, they are overcome with grief and think
to themselves, If our father were alive he would have pity on us, and we should be saved.
But now he has abandoned us and died in some other country far away. We are shel terless
orphans with no one to rely on!
Constantly harbouring such feelings of grief, they at last come to their senses and realise
that the medicine is in fact excellent; on taking it, they are healed of all the effects of the
poison. Then their father, hearing that his children are all recovered, immediately returns
home.
Good men, what is your opinion? Can anyone say that this skilled physician is guilty of
lying? Likewise it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, millions of
nayutas of asamkhya kalpas since I attained Buddhahood. But for the sake of living
beings I resort to an expedient, saying that I pass into extinction. In view of the
circumstances, how can anyone say that I have been guilty of lies or falsehood?
Like the physician who, with clever device
In order to cure his demented sons,
Though indeed alive, announces his death,
Yet none can charge him with falsehood,
I, too, being Father of this world,
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Who heals all misery and affliction,

For the sake of perverted people,
Though indeed alive, say I am extinct;
Though near, failing to see me
They look on me as extinct.
Those creatures, full of sin
By reason of their evil karma,
Through kalpas numberless hear not
The name of the most Precious Three.
I, beholding all living creatures
Sunk in the sea of suffering,
Being dissolute, set in their five desires,
And fallen into karma-paths of ill,
To set them expectant and thirsting
At first do not show myself,
Lest, because they always see me,
They should arrogant minds beget.
When hearts are longing,
I appear to teach the Dharma,
To save all creatures,
I expediently speak of Nirvana.
When creatures upright and gentle in mind,
Everywhere worshipping my relics,
Cherish a desire for goodness
And thirst with aspiration,
Wholeheartedly looking for Buddha,
Then I on the Vulture-Peak appear,
To teach the Supreme Dharma
To all announcing,
That I exist forever undying:
Only as expedient revealing
Myself as dead - yet not dead.
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I ever remain in this world,

In supernatural power,
Ever teaching the Dharma.
Wherever beings, reverent and joying in faith,
I am in their midst.
You, not knowing this,
Only say I am extinct.
Yet indeed by supernatural power,
Throughout kalpas numberless
On Holy Grdhrakuta am I.
While the living see, at the kalpas end,
The conflagration in its burning,
Tranquil remains this realm of mine,
Ever full of gods and men,
Parks and many palaces
With every sort of gem adorned,
Blooming and fruitful jewel trees,
Where all creatures pleasure take;
The gods strike up their heavenly drums
And music make for evermore,
Showering down celestial flowers
On Buddha and His mighty host.
My Pure Land is not destroyed,
Though all view it as being burnt up,
And grief and horror and distress
Thus fill them to the full.
But those of virtuous deeds,
Gentle and of upright nature,
These will ever me behold
Here expounding to all the Supreme Dharma:
Unto this eager throng,
I teach the Buddhas eternal life.
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Chapter 22: Entrustment

Ananda: When kyamuni Buddha had finished speaking he arose from the lion throne
on which he had been seated with the Tathagata Abundant Treasures, and by means of his
supernatural powers laid his right hand on the heads of all the Bodhisattva-mahasattvas,
speaking these words:
The Buddha: For incalculable hundred thousands of myriads of kotis of aeons I have
practised this rare Dharma of Supreme Perfect Enlightenment which now I transfer and
entrust into your hands. Single-mindedly you must receive, fathom and propagate abroad
this Saddharma-puarka Stra, making it increase and prosper far and wide. The
Tathagata is benevolent and has great compassion. He is in no way mean or avaricious;
fearlessly he is willing to impart to living beings the wisdom of the Buddha, the
Tathagata-wisdom that comes of itself. The Tathagata is the great Lord of Giving to all
living beings. You should follow and learn from the Tathagatas example: give
unstintingly!
In future ages where there are good men and women who have faith in the Tathagata, you
should teach and expound the Saddharma-puarka Stra to them, for in this way you
can help them gain the Buddha wisdom. If there are living beings who do not believe and
accept it, use some of the other profound teachings of the Tathagata to teach, benefit and
bring joy to them. If you do all this, then you shall repay the kindness of the Buddhas.
Ananda: When the multitude of Bodhisattva-mahasattvas heard the Buddha speak these
words three times, they were delighted and a great joy filled their bodies. With even
greater reverence than before, they saluted the Buddha, and then raising their voices in
unison they replied three times, We will respectfully carry out all these things just as the
World-honoured One has commanded. We beg the World-honoured One to have no
concern on this account!
Thereupon kyamuni Buddha addressed the immeasurable emanation Buddhas from the
ten directions who were seated on lion thrones under the jewelled trees, as well as the
Buddha Abundant Treasures, saying, Buddhas! Peace be with you proceed at your
pleasure. The Precious Stupa of the Tathagata Abundant Treasures may again be as it
was.
When the World-Honored One had spoken these words, the whole great assembly with
the Buddha Abundant Treasures, the immeasurable emanation Buddhas, the great
multitude of boundless asamkhyas of Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, Shariputra and the other
sravakas and the whole great fourfold assembly with its devas, human beings, asuras and
others were all filled with great joy.

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Appendix: Unit 4 Transcending the Human Predicament

Listen to Sangharakshitas audio-lecture Transcending the Human Predicament, and/or
read Chapter Three of the same title in Sangharakshita, The Drama of Cosmic
Book: http://www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=340
Read an introduction to the concept of skilful means in Visions of Mahyna Buddhism,
(pp.15-18) Windhorse, Cambridge, 2009.
In the vein of a critical literary approach, ask yourself the kinds of questions Ive given
below:
1. In what does the story of the Stra in the first three chapters and the parable
consist? How are its major themes, points and message being conveyed? What is
its overarching purpose, feel and character? How does it unfold? How does the
form of the parable contribute to this?
2. How do the different incidents contribute, support and relate to the unfolding of
the Stra and the story of the parable, its distinctive feel and quality?
3. Taking the parable as a whole, wherein lies the dramatic tension, oppositions, even
conflict either between characters or within any particular characters? What values
are being portrayed at variance? What resolutions, if any, are played out, or
suggested? How is this portrayed?
4. What sort of world does the parable portray? What does it convey about the
characters involved? How do the characters and the world they inhabit interrelate?
5. As the reader do you simply observe the story and parable as something that
happens to the key characters, or are you drawn in so that it becomes your story as
well?
To get an insight into an intelligent, insightful exploration of a striking theme expressed
in the Stra read Ratnagunas Abundance in the White Lotus Stra, Madhyamavani No.1,
Spring 1999.
http://madhyamavani.fwbo.org/1/lotus.html
If listening to inspiring talks is up your street, then a powerful twofold exploration comes
from a Padmaloka mens event: The Burning House An Image from the White Lotus
Stra:
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http://freebuddhistaudio.com/series/details?ser=X26
Group exercises
There are of course many primarily non-conceptual ways that a group could work
together, and of which perhaps one or more of your group will have some experience, and
can guide the rest. My suggestions here are based on theatre games, with which I have
some personal experience. It is important to remember this is meant to be fun, i.e. to be
enjoyed while having a purpose, a direction.
The form of improvisation Im recommending is fundamentally a form of collaborative,
spontaneous story-telling, i.e. a game of lets pretend by acting out; different
participants taking on different roles. While this can be entirely non-scripted, participants
could also decide on pre-agreed roles, and even an agreement on the general direction of
the action. Its good to bear in mind that improvisation tends to work best when we keep
an openness of mind, a responsiveness, and flexibility to engage with anothers
contribution, so that we collaborate in an emerging act of co-creation. This contrasts with
having a fixed idea and then setting out to express it. Instead, as the scene unfolds, each
improviser in offering some new element (keep it as short, specific and concrete as
possible), invites the other improviser(s) to accept that new contribution as true and real,
and not block it. In accepting that offer, the others response will firstly mean taking that
contribution fully into account, and then secondly entail another offer, i.e. building on th e
prior one, i.e.
Yes, and now... with every new piece of information added helping the
improvisers to refine the characterisation and progress the developing action... Whither
they know where.
In allowing yourselves to engage and express the impact of the Stra on you in a
different way, you may discover all sorts of meaningful associations that have hitherto
remained implicit. The point being not to take the details of the parable over literally, but
to explore for yourself the variation of different tensions and implications inherent in the
basic situation portrayed by the parable, and thereby come to a deeper understanding of
the points being made by the Stra.
Improvise, perhaps in pairs, in front of the rest of the group a scene that expresses a
contemporary version of the burning house (sasra) with its games that is relevant to
your own situation you could choose from a collection of hats, or other objects (from
a prop box) that support you getting into role. Each pair could improvise a particular
samsaric game, contributing to an emerging mlange of games. You could also do this
in the form of charades.
Each scene could last for, say, up to a maximum of 5 minutes. Then, with a third person
joining in, improvise a way that person can rescue the first pair.
For example, you might portray a number of different scenes depicting the eight worldly
winds; or, a scene(s) exploring how to entice children out of a range of contemporary
dangerous situations to which they may be oblivious (from an obvious issue like knife
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carrying to the subtler area of internet addiction), or, climate change activists trying to
effect changes in those addicted to Western consumerism and a different radical
alternative, or, educating intransigent South African officials regarding the dangers of
HIV infection.
After a number of these improvisations discuss what has come from the exercise. You
may discover this raises all sorts of interesting ethical dilemmas, the conflicting
tensions inherent in trying to actually practise a commitment to Buddhist values, act
skilfully, and raise awareness.

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Appendix: Unit 5 The Myth of the Return Journey

Listen to Sangharakshitas audio-lecture The Myth of the Return Journey, and/or read
Chapter Four of the same title in Sangharakshita, The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment:
Parables, Myths and Symbols of the White Lotus Stra, Windhorse Publications,
Glasgow, 1993.
To follow up the theme of skilful means upaya read Chapter 3: On Being All Things
to All Men in Sangharakshitas The Inconceivable Emancipation Themes from the
Vimalakirti-Nirdesa, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1995.
Also p.505-509 of Urgyen Sangharakshita, The Essential Sangharakshita, Wisdom,
Boston, 2009.
(UK) http://www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=729
(U.S.) http://tinyurl.com/yzdlraz
Asking yourself the kinds of questions Ive given below:
1. In what does the story of the myth consist? How are its major themes, points and
message being conveyed? What is its overarching purpose, feel and character?
How does it unfold? How does the form of the myth contribute to this?
the whole story of the myth, its distinctive feel and quality?
3. Taking the myth as a whole, wherein lies the dramatic tension, oppositions, even
conflict either between characters or within any particular characters? What values
are being portrayed at variance? What resolutions, if any, are played out, or
suggested? How is this portrayed?
4. What sort of world does the parable portray? What does it convey about the
5. As the reader do you find yourself observing the story externally, or how are
you drawn into it so that in some way it resonates with the story of your own
journey?

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6. Explore any significant differences that you discern with the story of the Prodigal
Son told in the Gospels.
Possible project topic
Pursue your understanding of how the notion of skilful means is expressed in the Lotus
Stra both in the parables and the dramatic action of the story. What ambiguities and
caveats should be borne in mind as a practitioner?
If you are really interested, try to get hold of Pye, M., Skilful Means A Concept in
Mahyna Buddhism, Duckworth, 1978, which goes into the topic in some depth drawing
out the essential relationship between relative and absolute truth, as well as skilful means
and wisdom.
http://tinyurl.com/yepxrds
Group exercises
Taking the caveats of the previous unit as read (see above), improvise, perhaps in pairs, a
series of scenes (these could even be sculpted tableaux) depicting different key themes
portrayed in the myth. While a prop box of hats, or other objects may be helpful
support, the use of masks could also be particularly effective.
You could explore more contemporary scenes of alienation (e.g. drug addiction
gambling, alcohol, sex) as well as ways of intervention to supporting a recovery or
realisation/fulfilment of personal potential. It might be an interesting exercise to explore a
number of modern myths of rags-to-riches that seem to ape the message conveyed by
the Stra; how do the implicit values express themselves differently? Likewise we have a
number of helper role-models that suggest different ways of getting involved with those
deemed to be in trouble. Improvisational scene plays can unearth the hidden
assumptions implicit with these.
After a number of these improvisations discuss what has come from the exercise.

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Appendix: Unit 6 The Jewel in the Lotus

Listen to Sangharakshitas audio-lecture The Jewel in the Lotus, and/or read Chapter
Seven of the same title in Sangharakshita, The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment:
Glasgow, 1993.
Read The Priceless Jewel (pp.7-16), in Sangharakshita, The Priceless Jewel, Windhorse,
Glasgow, 1993.
http://www.sangharakshita.org/_books/The%20Priceless%20Jewel.pdf
Read the attached excerpt from The Door of Liberation that gives one account of
Avalokitevaras origins.
The Birth of Avalokitevara
In a prophecy made in the White Lotus Stra, kyamuni Buddha himself predicted the
spread of the Teaching in Tibet. Once while the great Teacher was staying in the Bamboo
Grove with his disciples, a rainbow-coloured ray of light emanated from his forehead
toward the north, and he smiled. His disciples were surprised and begged him to explain.
He said,
Fortunate youths, the snowy country of Tibet, long the abode of demons and
devils, has never been subdued by any of the Buddhas of the past, present or future, but it
will be subdued in the future by the Bodhisattva rya Avalokitevara. He will lead its
inhabitants to the path of enlightenment and the Holy Dharma will blaze there like a
rising sun. Long ago rya Avalokitevara made this vow before the thousand Buddhas:
May I be able to establish in emancipation all the living beings in the barbaric Land of
Snow, where all beings are so hard to discipline and none of the Buddhas of the three
times have stepped. May these beings be disciplined by me. May I be like father and
mother to those who are now helpless. May I be their guide, leading them to freedom.
May I burn the lamp to chase away the gloom of barbarism. In that country, may I extend,
for as long as possible, the teachings of the Tathgatas of the three times. In hearing the
name of the Three Jewels, may the many beings of the Land of Snow go for refuge and
obtain rebirth as men or gods. May they have the opportunity to enjoy the Holy Dharma.
May I be able to mature and emancipate them, each according to his own way. May that
gloomy barbaric country become bright, like an island of precious jewels.
After this speech, another ray of light in the form of a white lotus emanated from the
Buddhas heart. It illuminated all the world and radiated to Amitbha in Sukhvat, the
Pure Land, the western paradise - an ineffable land of light sustained by the power of the
Buddhas, in which there is no material creation.
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That ray of light then emanated from the heart of Amitbha and dissolved into the Lotus
Lake; thereupon Amitbha prophesied that an incarnation of the Buddha would subdue
the beings in the barbaric Land of Snow.
At that time there lived in Sukhvat the Dharmarja Sang-bo-chok. One day he sent a
group of his attendants to Lotus Lake to gather offerings of flowers for the Buddha. In the
middle of the lake they saw a lotus from whose great stem extended a canopy of leaves;
showing through the petals of the lotus was a cushion from which radiated rays of light.
The attendants immediately ran to tell the king, who, amazed, filled his royal barge with
offerings and went with his attendants to see this miraculous lotus. In front of the lotus he
and his attendants made offerings and prayers.
The centre of the lotus opened in four parts, revealing, miraculously born from the lotus,
the incarnation who would subdue the barbaric Land of Snow. He was seated in cross legged position. His face was smiling and beautiful; his hair fell in five locks and was
ornamented with precious jewels. He had four arms. Two of his hands were folded at his
heart; his lower right hand held a white crystal rosary, and his lower left hand held the
stem of a white lotus that blossomed at his ear. His body was the colour of sunlight
reflected on ranges of snowy mountains and was ornamented by the special signs and
marks. He was adorned by jewelled ornaments and wore garments of beautiful silks.
Across his left shoulder was draped the skin of a black antelope. And from his body, rays
of light emanated to the ten directions.
The king and his attendants welcomed him with many kinds of music, and invited him to
the palace. The king then went to Amitbha and asked, Who is this incarnation magically
born from the centre of a lotus, who has the five flowing locks, who is ornament ed with
precious jewels, who is the colour of snowy mountains, whose beautiful appearance
captivates the mind, and who has extraordinary signs and marks? Is he a prince of my
lineage or is he one who will help living beings?
Amitbha replied, This incarnation is a Bodhisattva, the great compassionate rya
Avalokitevara, He is not of your kingly lineage. Then Amitbha, putting his hand on the
head of rya Avalokitevara, spoke these words, Noble son, those beings who abide in
the barbaric Land of Snow have not been subdued by the Buddhas of the three times.
Because of the power of your previous supplications, you, excellent one, will subdue
them. Wondrously well done! By merely seeing your rya body and hearing the sound of
the six syllables, may the beings in the Land of Snow be delivered from the three lower
states of beings and obtain rebirth as men or gods. When all the demons and devils living
in the Land of Snow see your body and hear the six syllables, may their harmful minds be
calmed and may they develop helpfulness, compassion and the bodhi-mind. When all the
carnivorous animals in that country, whose very voices are frightful, see your body and
hear the six syllables, may their harmful thoughts be calmed and may they live together
peacefully. When beings in the Land of Snow who are hungry, thirsty, and miserable see
your rya body and hear the six syllables, may they receive a rain of ambrosia. Drinking
this, may they be satisfied according to their wish. When those who live in the land of
Snow who are unfortunate, blind, and sick, who have not protection and no refuge, see
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your rya body and hear the six syllables, may they be completely freed from all sickness
and disabilities. When all those beings see your rya body and hear the six syl lables, may
their lives be prolonged and free from illness. May you be the protector for those without
protection, the refuge for those without refuge. As the beings in the Land of Snow depend
on the six syllables, may all the teachings of the Buddha spread throughout the land and
may all delight in the Holy Dharma OM MANI PADME HUM. In these six syllables are
found the intent of all the Buddhas, and the root of the eighty-four thousand aggregates of
the Dharma.
Before his teacher Amitbha, rya Avalokitevara also vowed, May I have the
opportunity to establish all living beings in happiness, beginning with those in the Land
of Snow. Until I relieve all living beings, may I never, even for a moment, feel like giving
up the purpose of others for my own peace and happiness. If I should ever think of my
own happiness, may my head be cracked into ten pieces like the Ardzaka plant, and may
my body be split into a thousand pieces, like the petals of a lotus.
Having made this promise, he travelled throughout the six realms of sasra, teaching all
living beings the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Dharma by means of the six
syllable mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. In each realm he freed beings from their
particular miseries, and taught the Dharma to those who wished to hear it.
Finally he went to Tibet, the Land of Snow. Gazing over the Tibetan nation from the peak
of Red Mountain, he had a vision of countless beings burning alive in an ocean of fire.
Witnessing the misery of these beings, he wept heart-felt tears. The goddesses Tara and
Bhrkuti miraculously appeared from these teardrops and encouraged the Bodhisattva,
promising to help with him with the great task of teaching the Tibetans.
Avalokitevara went among the Tibetans and taught them the mantra OM MANI PADME
HUM, pronouncing the words of the Dharma with infinite compassion. Then he entered
the meditation of bodhi-mind, making a long and intense effort to dispel the misery of
beings and bring them to happiness. Exhausted by his efforts, he entered the meditation of
restoration. For a second time, he gazed out over the land and saw that he had not helped
even one one-hundredth of the beings of the Land of Snow to enter the bliss of liberation.
He was seized by bitter sorrow, and for an instant the thought arose, What is the use? I
can do nothing for them. It is better for me to be happy and peaceful myself.
At that moment, his head cracked into ten pieces and his body split into a thousand parts.
In agony, he cried out to Amitbha Buddha, who appeared before him in the sky. Placing
his hand on Avalokitevaras shattered head he said, All circumstances come from
cooperative causes conditioned at the moment of intent. Every fortune which arises to
anyone results from his own former wish. Your powerful expression of supplication was
praised by all the Buddhas. In a moment of time the truth will certainly appear.
Then Amitbha blessed him and transfigured the ten pieces of his head into ten faces, one
for each of the Ten Pramits. He also blessed the broken body, transfiguring the torn
flesh into a thousand hands, each with its own wisdom eye, so that the Bodhisattva had a
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thousand eyes and his vision became as that of the thousand Buddhas of the golden aeon.
On the crown of ten-faced head, Amitbha placed himself, and he radiated boundless,
inconceivable light. Since that time, rya Avalokitevara has often manifested himself in
Tibet. His various forms have included laymen and lamas.
From Geshe Wangyal, The Door of Liberation, 1973, p.30ff.
As with the two previous units you could be asking yourself:
1. In what do the stories of Avolkitesavaras myth, and the parable of the Priceless
Jewel consist? How are their major themes, points, messages being conveyed?
What are their overarching purpose, feel and character? How do they unfold? How
do the form of the telling contribute to this?
the stories, their distinctive feel and quality?
3. Wherein lies the dramatic tension, oppositions, even conflict either between
characters or within any particular characters? What values are being portrayed at
variance? What resolutions, if any, are played out, or suggested? How is this
portrayed?
4. What sort of worlds are being portrayed? What does it convey about the characters
involved? How do the characters and the world they inhabit interrelate?
5. In what ways does an exploration or openness to the richness implicit to the
symbolism of the jewel and the lotus affect your appreciation and interpretation of
these stories?
6. How does all of the above contrast meaningfully with any of the other parables
and myths so far encountered in the Lotus Stra?
If Sangharakshitas exploration of the Avalokitevaras mantra has captured you, then an
excellent talk to stir your imagination is Padmavajras The Sound of Reality available
at:
http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=OM709
Possible project topics
Compassion and its relationship to Skilful Means as the quintessential spiritual value for
the Mahyna how does this express the Buddhist conception of Transcendental
Wisdom?
For a poetic insight, listen to Sangharakshita reading his poems: The Lotus of
Compassion and The Bodhisattvas Reply at:
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http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=P01
Another very good talk is Paramis Out of Compassion for the World available at:
http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=LOC56
and Subhutis Awake to the Cries of the World at:
http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=OM473
Explore the symbolism of the jewel and, or, the lotus; there are a number of possible
ways of doing so: either in a more creative exploration through writing, poetry or some
other artistic medium, or alternatively pursuing this via the history of the imagery as it
has found expression in different cultural forms, and making your own connections.
To give yourself a way in, try listening to Sraddhagitas talk The Jewel in the Lotus
available at:
A classic description of the Buddhas vision of the lotus pool can be found at track 10 in
Sangharakshitas talk The Ideal of Enlightenment at:

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Appendix: Unit 7 Symbols of Life and Growth

Its worth seeing if you can find Dr. Conzes translation of this section of the Stra in
Conze, Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies, Ch.5: The Lotus of the Good Law On Plants,
p.105-113, as well as a shorter, poetically evocative translation (p.139-40) in Conze,
Horner, Snellgrove, Waley, (Eds.), Buddhist Texts Through the Ages, Harper, London,
1964.
http://openlibrary.org/b/OL9070658M/Thirty_Years_of_Buddhist_Studies
http://tinyurl.com/yjosm2c
Listen to Sangharakshitas public talk The Rain of the Dharma given in 1994 in the USA,
particularly tracks 10-13 available at:
and Amoghavajras exploration of The Parable of the Rain Cloud available at:
Another seminal Sangharakshita talk is Enlightenment as Experience and as NonExperience. Tracks 10-11 are particularly pertinent to the theme of this unit available at:
Make a collage, painting or write some poetry that expresses something of the feel that
comes from this chapter for you, as well as celebrating your experience of the
transcendent as symbolised through the natural world.
Watch some of the programmes from David Attenboroughs BBC nature documentary
series The Private Life of Plants, as well as perhaps Fresh Water, and Seasonal Forests
from the Planet Earth series.
The Private Life of Plants (YouTube): http://tinyurl.com/ygcvy78
Planet Earth (YouTube): http://tinyurl.com/yg946qe
Visit an arboretum or garden like Londons Kew Gardens, immersing yourself in the
fecund vibrancy of life to be found in such places, perhaps writing your own poem
celebrating your experience. Explore the contrasting nature of the experiences of a
beautiful garden with that of the wilds of Nature.
Spend some time collecting pictures of great works of art that express the values you
discern in this chapter.
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Appendix: Unit 8 The Revelation of Abundant Treasures

If you find this one of the least accessible episodes in the Stra, having some
understanding and feeling for the architectural symbolism of the stpa will greatly
enhance your reading of what happens in Chapter 11 of the Stra. Consequently, I
strongly recommend listening to Five Element Symbolism and the Stpa:
http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=100
and/or reading Chapter Six in Sangharakshitas The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment:
Glasgow, 1993.
See also The Symbolism of the Five Elements in the Stpa (pp.168-171) in
Sangharakshita, A Guide to the Buddhist Path, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1996.
Another of Sangharakshitas lectures covering similar ground is Chapter 2: The Tantric
Stpa in Creative Symbols of Tantric Buddhism (pp.31-51), Windhorse, 2002.
The original audio talk (and transcript) is available at:
Questions
1. What are your responses to the symbolism of the Mahabhtas? How would you
square Five Element symbolism with scientific facts? How would you explain this
to a Western sceptic, particularly the notion of akasha (space)?
2. Experiment with the meditation on the Visualization of the Six Element Stpa as
described in Kamalalashila, 1999, Meditation The Buddhist Way of Tranquillity
and Insight (pp. 228-9), Windhorse, Birmingham.
Online version: http://kamalashila.co.uk/page7/page7.html
What is your experience?

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Revisit The Buddha and Bodhisattva: Eternity and Time, Unit 8 of the Bodhisattva Ideal
series in the second year of the Dharma Training Course:
http://tinyurl.com/yb9aclc
or in Sangharakshita, The Bodhisattva Ideal Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism,
Windhorse, 1999.
There are important themes that Sangharakshita discusses there that are central to
understanding the deeper import of this episode in the Stra. A part of this lecture is
reproduced in the material made available for Unit 9 in this Appendix.
Potential project
Researching the history and development of stpas in the Buddhist world, both through
their widely differing architectural forms, as well as the evolving symbolism attributed to
them is fascinating. Below is a reading list to get you started:
Chapter 10: Buddhist Saints and the Stupa in Ray, R.A., Buddhist Saints in India
A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations, OUP, Oxford, 1994.
Lama Anagarika Govinda, Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa.

http://tinyurl.com/y8kko2y
The Stupa, Sacred Symbol of Enlightenment (Crystal Mirror 12, Dharma

Publishing).
http://tinyurl.com/yfog5wf
Snodgrass, A., The Symbolism of the Stupa, Banarsidass, Delhi, 1992.

Motilal Banarsidass: http://tinyurl.com/yhhfxxq
Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/ylfp4dt
Brauen, Martin, The Mandala, Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, Serindia Pubs,
1997.
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Serindia: http://www.serindia.com/item.cfm/34
Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/yht2lcq
Chapter 5: Philosophical Interpretations in Sangharakshita, The Three Jewels,

Windhorse.
V. The Stupa Cult and the Extant Pali Vinaya; VI. Monks and the Relic Cult in
the Mahaparinibbana Sutta: An Old Misunderstanding in Regard to Monastic
Buddhism; VII. Burial Ad Sanctos and the Physical Presence of the Buddha in
Early Indian Buddhism. All in Schopen, G., Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks,
Univ. Hawaii. 1996, p.86ff.
http://tinyurl.com/yeddjuz
Pema Dorjee, Stupa and Its Technology A Tibeto-Buddhist Perspective, 1996.

http://tinyurl.com/yzbnoal
Anna Libera Dallapiccola (ed.), The Stupa, Its Religious, Historical and
Architectural Significance, Verlag, 1980.
Buy the article online: http://tinyurl.com/y9n8okn
Open Library: http://openlibrary.org/b/OL16323965M/Stupa
Pant, Sushila, The Origin and Development of Stupa Architecture in India, Bharata
Manisha, Varanasi, 1976.
http://tinyurl.com/ybjw3se

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Appendix: Unit 9 The Eternal Buddha

The excerpts of two lectures, given below, give an introduction to help finding your own
way to engage with the themes of Time and Eternity.
From, The Buddha and Bodhisattva Eternity and Time by Sangharakshita
Its true to say that the Bodhisattva follows a path, what we call the Path of the
Bodhisattva, and its true that the Bodhisattva does aim at a goal, the goal of
Enlightenment for the sake of all living beings. But though this is true, though these
impressions are correct, there is at the same time a sort of danger; and the danger consists
in the fact that these expressions, as when we speak of the Bodhisattva as following a
path, arriving at a goal these expressions are in fact metaphorical. We dont always
realize that, we dont always realize how much of our thought, how much of our speech,
how much of our communication is metaphorical. Its not to be taken literally; it is
suggestive. Its meant to stimulate, even inspire. Its not meant to communicate in a clearcut, scientific, sort of quasi-mathematical fashion. So there is the danger that we may
forget this and theres the danger that we may start taking these metaphors - these
metaphors with the help of which we try to make clear what is going on in the spiritual
life - the danger is that we may start taking these somewhat too literally and trying to
press them to logical conclusions.
Now let us look into this just a little more closely. Suppose that were walking along the
road something that often happens to us. So in due course, having covered a certain
distance, having covered a certain ground, in due course we arrive at our destination,
which is, say, a house. This is a simple enough situation, a simple enough sort of
experience, but what are the facts involved? What are the facts of the situation? The facts
of the situation are that we have changed our position, but we have changed it on the
same plane, as it were, on the same level, as it were.
Now it is only too easy, too fatally easy, to think of the Bodhisattvas Path and the
Bodhisattva goal in the same sort of way, rather literally. Its only too easy to think of the
Bodhisattvas path, leading up, as it were, to Buddhahood as though to the door of a
house. We think of the Bodhisattva as going along step by step, stage by stage, and one
day he comes up against this great and wonderful door or gateway of Nirvana, all
glistening and pearly and golden and there it is, just like coming to the door of a house,
and he just enters, he just goes in. And this is the way in which we think of these things,
these experiences and we cant in a way help it.
But it isnt really like that at all. When you come to the end of the Bodhisattva path, when
you come in fact to the end of the spiritual path, you dont find a gate, you dont find a
doorway you dont find any sort of house, any sort of spiritual, any sort of celestial
mansion waiting for you. So what do you find? When you get to the end of the path, you
dont find anything at all. You dont find anything at all theres just nothing there. The
path just ends. The path just comes to an end. The path just stops, and there you are at the
end of the path with nothing there. The path, as Ive said, just ends. So you find yourself,
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as it were, (again a metaphor so dont start taking it literally), you find yourself at the
edge of a precipice. The path has gone on nicely, step by step, stage by stage, mile after
mile, and you had counted all those milestones, and you were expecting to arrive in
comfort at the door, the entrance of a great house, a mansion, but no you find that the
path ends right at the edge of a precipice. And there you are standing right on the edge of
the precipice, and the precipice goes down not just a few feet, or even a few miles, it just
goes down to infinity. Now what is one to do?
The Zen people, who are also involved here, the Zen people put it another way. The Zen
people say that the spiritual life is like climbing up a flagpole. So eventually with great
effort and the flagpole is supposed to be rather slippery, if not deliberately greased by
fate or circumstances eventually, with a lot of effort and struggle you get to the top of
the flagpole. It goes up a very, very long way we are told - this particular flagpole. So
when you get to the top what happens? Well when you get to the top you cant go any
further up obviously, and it is also impossible to come down. Why is it impossible to
come down? Because beneath, below theres the Zen master standing with a big stick! So
you dare not come down, and you cant go up. And, worst of all, at the top of the flagpole
there is no cosy little platform on which you can settle down, like St. Simeon Stylites or
anything like that. There is nothing there, there is just empty space. So youre afraid to
jump of course. So you cant go up, you cant go down, you cant stay there, and you
cant jump off. So what is one to do? This is what the Zen people put to one. Well, it s
quite impossible to say. One just cant say. No statement is possible. So Im afraid I shall
have to leave you all on the top of the flagpole!
We are not concerned this evening with that particular predicament, not concerned with
it, that is to say, directly, but only as illustrating the sort of the point that Im trying to
make, namely that path and goal are discontinuous. Contrary to what we usually think,
contrary to our usual metaphorical mode of description, Enlightenment is not reached by
following a path. Enlightenment is not reached by following a path in the sense that, at
the end of the path, theres Enlightenment staring you in the face. No such thing happens,
no such thing occurs, no such thing takes place. At the same time this does not mean that
the path should not be followed. Paradoxically enough, one follows the path knowing it
doesnt lead anywhere, doesnt arrive anywhere. However, were not concerned this
evening with that either. What we are trying to say, what we are trying to point out, trying
to make clear is the fact that the path and the goal occupy, as it were, different
dimensions. One, we may say is the dimension of time and the other is the dimension of
eternity, and one will not arrive at the one by the indefinite prolongation of the other; by
the indefinite prolongation of time going on and on and on in time indefinitely you never
reach eternity, you never get to eternity. You never reach that other dimension. Its rather
like or it would be like trying to arrive at a two-dimensional figure by the prolongation of
a one-dimensional line: however far you may go in that direction, prolonging the line,
protracting the line even to infinity, you never will arrive at a two-dimensional figure. So
the two eternity on the one hand, time on the other, and goal on the one hand, the path
on the other these are discontinuous, discrete as we may say.

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Now the Bodhisattva represents the dimension of time, because obviously the
Bodhisattva path is followed in time. Its something that happens, this following of the
path in time it has a past, and a present and a future; it doesnt go beyond time. But the
Buddha represents the dimension of eternity. The Buddha represents the goal, and the
goal is gained out of time. One reaches the end of the path in time, but one shouldn t
think that one attains the goal in time: one can attain the goal out of time or one can put it
another way and say that the goal is eternally attained.
We usually and up to a point quite justifiably think of the Buddha as an historical
figure, and this is quite correct as far as it goes. And we think of the Buddhas attainment
of Enlightenment as an historical event. We say, for instance, it took place two thousand
five hundred years ago we might even name the year, might even name the day. So we
look upon the Buddhas attainment of Enlightenment as something occurring in time,
within this dimension of time. And so long as we make it clear that were speaking
popularly, conventionally, then this isnt altogether wrong.
But then only too often we go on to think of Buddhahood itself as existing in time. And
this is quite wrong, this is altogether wrong because though the Buddha as historical
person may exist within time, Buddhahood itself exists outside time: Buddhahood itself
exists in what we call the dimension of eternity. We can in fact think of the Buddha
himself as existing simultaneously on two different levels: on the level of time, as a
human, historical figure, and on the level of eternity, as Reality. And we can think of him
as existing also, in addition to these two, in an intermediate, as it were archetypal realm.
The Dharmakya represents Buddhahood as it is in itself, or the Buddha as he is in
himself. And the Dharmakya therefore represents the real, the true, the genuine, the
ultimate, Buddha. Not the human Buddha, not the historical Buddha, not even the
archetypal Buddha. And therefore we find the Buddha saying in the Diamond Stra, in a
verse which is very famous in the Buddhist world and often recited:
Those who by my form did see me, (form meaning the human historical form) And
those who followed me by voice Wrong the efforts they engaged in, Me those
people will not see. From the Dharma should one see the Buddhas, From the
Dharma bodies comes their guidance. Yet Dharmas true nature cannot be
discerned, And no one can be conscious of it as an object.
So this is what the Buddha says in the Diamond Stra. The Buddha is saying that the
Buddha is not really his physical body, nor even his archetypal form, the Buddha is the
Dharmakya. The Buddha is, as it were, Reality.
Now the message of another great Mahyna text, the Saddharma-puarka, is similar.
In fact in a way its even more explicit. I dont know how many of you have seen or have
read this particular Stra, but it is worth pointing out that this Stra, the Saddharmapuarka which means The White Lotus Flower of the Good Doctrine, this particular
Stra employs the non-conceptual mode of communication. We have seen, on more than
one occasion that there are two modes of communication one conceptual, through
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abstract ideas, concepts, and the other non-conceptual, the other speaking the language of
parable and myth and so on and this the language which the Saddharma-puarka speaks
predominantly. And I have in mind a particular episode, when suddenly, according to the
text, millions of Bodhisattvas appear from the earth. You can imagine how staggered
everybody was! There they were, sitting round the Buddha under a tree somewhere in
northern India, and maybe a few hundred of these ascetics and monks and maybe
householders, a few princes and so on, a few merchants, and suddenly, we are told, out of
the fissures of the earth, there came millions of Bodhisattvas quite an extraordinary sort
of thing to happen, even during the lifetime of the Buddha!
And the Buddha, when he saw all these millions of Bodhisattvas issuing from the fissures
of the earth, he said, addressing the other ordinary human disciples,
Oh yes, these are all
my disciples. Ive taught and trained them all.
So the ordinary human disciples expressed, according to the Stra, their astonishment
when they heard the Buddha claiming to have taught and trained these millions of
Bodhisattvas who had appeared in this miraculous manner, and they said,
But look here,
you were Enlightened only forty years ago. And we recognize, we admit that youve been
working pretty hard! Teaching all sorts of beings and you havent really wasted any time,
but these millions of Bodhisattvas, thats a bit too much to ask us to believe. How could
you possibly have trained so many of them? Some of these Bodhisattvas are not just
ordinary novice Bodhisattvas, theyve been following the Bodhisattva path for ages, for
kalpas, hundreds of lives, thousands of years, so how can they possibly be your
disciples? They said,
Its just like a young man of twenty-five pointing out a collection
of centenarians, all men of a hundred, and saying, Theyre all my sons. Its just
impossible.
So at this point, according to the Stra, the Buddha makes his great revelation, the one
towards which the whole Stra has been working up, as it were, a revelation which is the
keynote of the Stra. And the Buddha says,
Dont think that I was Enlightened forty
years ago. That is just your way of looking at it. I am eternally Enlightened. And when
the Buddha makes that statement obviously it isnt the Nirmakya speaking, its not the
Sambhogakya speaking its the Dharmakya speaking. In other words its the real
Buddha speaking, the eternal Buddha speaking or Buddhahood itself speaking, not any
particular person, not any particular individual, however great.
So when one speaks of the eternal Buddha, or when the Saddharma-puarka Stra
speaks in terms of the eternal Buddha, one is not to understand the word eternal in the
sense of indefinitely prolonged in time, but rather in the sense of being outside time
altogether. And this means therefore that for the Saddharma-puarka, as for the
Diamond Stra, the Buddha symbolizes the dimension of eternity, or symbolizes Reality
as existing outside time.
And similarly therefore the Bodhisattva represents the dimension of time, or represents
Reality represents even Buddhahood as manifesting in though this again is
metaphorical time. And it isnt very difficult to understand how this should be so, how
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the Bodhisattva should represent or symbolize the dimension of time, because, as we have
seen, the Bodhisattva follows the path, engages in certain activities, originates, that is to
say, a certain sequence of thoughts and words and deeds, and this sequence is
progressive. In other words the Bodhisattva manifests the relative Bodhicitta to an ever
increasing degree, and all this this whole process takes place in time.
We have therefore two principles: weve a principle of Buddhahood out of time, in the
dimension of eternity, and weve a principle of Bodhisattvahood in the dimension of time.
One, the principle of Buddhahood, eternity is transcendent, the other, the principle of
Bodhisattvahood, in time, the principle of growth, evolution, development, is immanent.
The one, the first represents perfection eternally complete, eternally achieved. The other
represents perfection everlastingly in process of achievement, in the world order, through
the evolutionary process. And the two are discontinuous. The one does not lead into the
other. They are discontinuous, discrete.
Now the question that arises is, Can we leave them like this? Is this the last word that
can be said on the subject, that here youve got Buddha, there youve got Bodhisattva,
there youve got eternity, there youve got time, discontinuous, discrete. Is this the last
word that can be said on the subject? Well certainly not according to the Mahyna, and
especially not according to the Tantra. Theres no question though of merging one into
the other. The solution isnt as easy as that. It isnt saying,
Well time is illusory, merge it
in eternity, or,
Eternity is illusory, merge it in time. No. They both are, irreducibly
there Buddhahood, Bodhisattvahood, eternity, time they cant be merged, the one in
the other. So it isnt a question of doing that.
Rather, according to the Mahyna and again especially according to the Tantra, its a
question of realizing both of them simultaneously. In other words realizing Buddha and
Bodhisattva simultaneously, eternity and time simultaneously. Seeing everything as
eternally achieved and at the same time eternally in process of achievement. Seeing that
these two do not contradict each other. One may say one has to see that everything moves
but nothing moves. Sometimes one may have that feeling, that sensation, one is moving,
one is walking perhaps, even running, but nothing moves. The two are there both, in a
sense, contradictory movement but no movement but theyre both there one can
deny neither of them.
In the same way, one may say the Buddha sits eternally beneath the Bodhi tree. The
Buddha has always sat beneath the Bodhi tree and always will sit. At the same time the
Bodhisattva is eternally practising the pramits, the Perfections, life after life to infinity,
and that these two, Buddha and Bodhisattva, represent different aspects of one one
might even say the same, Reality. Reality as existing out of time in, as it were, eternity,
and Reality as progressively revealed in time.
Now its very difficult for the mind to go beyond this point. To begin with, we have to
realize that however long time goes on, time never reaches eternity; time just goes on and
on. Time, we may say, does not go beyond time. Theres no question of any getting
nearer and nearer to eternity as time goes on, any nearer to the Absolute, any nearer to
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Buddhahood, which is in the dimension of eternity. So that in say a million years we ll be

no nearer to eternity than we are now, no nearer to Buddhahood no nearer to
Enlightenment, just by going on and on in time. Well be no nearer at all.
So this sounds pretty hopeless. That however long you go on in time you never get there,
you never reach eternity, never reach Buddhahood. Its a different dimension. But it isnt
really as hopeless as it looks, because you can turn it the other way round and you can say
that at this very moment were as near to Enlightenment, to eternity, as we shall ever be.
We might even say that even a Bodhisattva, on the very threshold of Enlightenment, just
a minute before he gets it, is no nearer really than we are at this moment.
And this is really something to meditate upon, something to ponder. That every moment
is the last moment. After all every moment is the last moment, whether its this moment,
or the next, or whether its a moment occurring after a million years. Every moment is the
last moment, and beyond the last moment theres only Buddhahood. Whether its this
moment or the moment that comes in a million years when perhaps were on the threshold
of Enlightenment. Theres only this moment, and after this moment theres only
Buddhahood. So every moment in fact, though we dont know it if we did know it what
a terrible reaction there would be! that every moment we find ourselves at the top, in
fact, of the flagpole, and all that we have to do is... well, what?!
So you can see that weve gone quite a long way. At the same time we havent gone
anywhere. Weve completed our journey, our journey along the Bodhisattva path. At the
same time weve realized that the goal of the journey is eternally achieved and eternally
in process of being achieved. The Buddha and the Bodhisattva, eternity and time, are one
or are not two.
References
The Buddha and Bodhisattva: Eternity and Time, Unit 8 of the Bodhisattva Ideal series
in the second year of the Triratna Dharma Training course:
http://tinyurl.com/yb9aclc
or in Sangharakshita, The Bodhisattva Ideal Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism,
Windhorse, 1999:

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From, The Buddha, God, and Reality by Sangharakshita

We may say that Enlightenment, the Buddhas Enlightenment, or anybody elses
Enlightenment represents the point of intersection, as it were, of time and eternity.
Strictly speaking, of course, it is only a line that can intersect another line. So eternity
isnt a line. We can represent time as a line, but not eternity as a line. So in a way you
cant really speak of eternity intersecting time as though it was another line, another time,
as it were. It is ridiculous to speak of it in that way. So perhaps we should think rather in
terms of time, that is to say a line, which at a given point, just stops. At this, so called,
point of intersection it isnt intersected by another line. The first line, time, just stops.
Instead of propagating itself indefinitely, it stops, it disappears, as it were, into a new
dimension.
It is rather like the flowing of a river into the ocean. The ocean represents the new
dimension, the river is time, the ocean is eternity if you like. This simile is, of course,
rather hackneyed, but it is still rather useful if one doesnt take it too literally and perhaps
it is possible to improve on it to some extent. Suppose we do that. Suppose we just
assume, or we imagine, that the ocean into which our river is flowing is just over the
horizon. So what does one see? One sees the river flowing and flowing to the horizon, but
you dont see the ocean into which the river is flowing. So it seems as though the river is
flowing into nothingness, flowing into a void, it just stops at the horizon, because that is
the point where it enters the new dimension that we cannot see. So time is like that, time
just stops as it were at eternity, time just comes to an end, time is succeeded by eternity,
and this is what we mean by Enlightenment. Enlightenment is just like that. Siddhartha
disappears, just like the river disappearing at the horizon and the Buddha takes his place.
This is of course from the standpoint of eternity. From the standpoint of time Siddhartha
becomes the Buddha, he develops into the Buddha, grows into the Buddha, evolves into
the Buddha. But from the standpoint of eternity Siddhartha just ceases to exist and there
is the Buddha, who has of course been there all the time.
Now this difference of approach, approach in terms of time, approach in terms of eternity,
is at the bottom of the whole controversy between the gradual school of Zen and the
abrupt school of Zen. You probably remember that in the early days of Zen, or rather
Chan in China, there were these two branches of the Chan or Zen school, those who
believed that Enlightenment was attained suddenly, in a sudden sort of flash or
illumination, and those who believed that it was attained gradually, step by step, by
patient effort and practice. And you remember also that in the Platform Stra Hui Neng
tries to clear up this whole controversy by saying that it isnt that there is a gradual path,
and that it isnt that there is a sudden path or abrupt path, it is merely that some people
gain Enlightenment more quickly than others, presumably because they make a greater
effort. And this is true.
But one can also go rather more deeply than this. The abrupt realization, or the abrupt
attainment of Enlightenment, we may say, has got nothing to do with speed within time.
When one speaks of the abrupt path, or the abrupt school, or the abrupt realization of
Enlightenment, one doesnt mean that one has speeded up the same process within time.
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It doesnt mean that if you take the usual process of attaining Enlightenment, as it goes on
within time, and you just speed it up, you just get it through more quickly. It d oesnt
mean that whereas normally you might spend fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years on
the gradual path, you speed it all up and you compress that into, say, one year, or even a
month, or even a week, or even a minute. It isnt that. The abrupt path, we may say, is
outside time altogether. And sudden Enlightenment is simply the point at which this new
dimension, this dimension of eternity outside time is entered. So one cannot, as it were,
reach this point, one cannot reach this point, as it were, of eternity by speeding up the
process of realization within time. You can never get closer to eternity by speeding up
your process of approach to eternity within time. Within time you just have to stop. But at
the same time, paradoxically, you cant stop without first having speeded up.
This puts one in mind of the story of Agulimla, which I have often referred to. Its a
rather instructive story because it illustrates this question of these two dimensions. The
point that this story illustrates is this; that Agulimla could not catch up with the Buddha
because the Buddha was, as it were, moving - or standing still, it is the same thing here,
in a different dimension. Agulimla representing time, couldnt catch up with the
Buddha representing eternity. However long time goes on, it never comes to a point
within time where it catches up with eternity. It doesnt find eternity within the temporal
process. So Agulimla couldnt even have caught up with the Buddha even if the
Buddha, had stood still; even if the Buddha had stood still, Agulimla could be running
now, still, after two thousand five hundred years, but he wouldnt have caught up with the
Buddha. The distance between them would be the same now as it was then, he wouldn t
be any nearer.
Let us return to our main topic. We have seen, in other words, that Enlightenment, or
the attainment of Enlightenment, represents entry into a new dimension of being, it is not
a prolongation of the old one, however refined. So after his Enlightenment, after his
Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree the Buddha is a different, even a new person. Not just
the old Siddhartha slightly improved, or even considerably improved, but a new person.
We tend, unfortunately, to think of the Buddhas Enlightenment in terms of our own
experience of life. What usually happens is that in the course of our lives, in the course of
so many years, so many decades we undergo various experiences, we add to our
knowledge, we learn different things, we do different things, go to different places, meet
different people, but underneath we remain, as it were, fundamentally, the same person,
recognisably the same person. The change is only peripheral. Whatever changes take
place dont go very deep. Perhaps we are the same person now that we were twenty, thirty
years a go when we were a child. Very often this is the case, very definitely, very
remarkably, in as much as we do not succeed in outgrowing those very early, those
childhood, even those infantile conditionings and attitudes.
The Buddhas experience of Enlightenment didnt represent just a little, peripheral
change in him, a change just on the surface. It was something much deeper, something in
a way much more dramatic than that. More like the change that takes place as between
two lives, when you die to one life and you are reborn in another, and there is a great gap
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in between. The Enlightenment experience is more like that, it is more like we may say,
death. In fact in some Buddhist traditions Enlightenment is called the Great Death.
Because when you are Enlightened everything of the past dies, everything is annihilated,
in a way, and you are completely reborn. So in the case of the Buddha, we may say,
Siddhartha dies, not that Siddhartha is changed, or that Siddhartha is tinkered about a bit
with and sort of patched up and improved revised edition issued, no. Siddhartha dies,
Siddhartha is finished, Siddhartha dies, as it were, at the foot of the Bodhi tree and the
Buddha is born, the Buddha comes into existence, or appears, only after the death of
Siddhartha. We say the Buddha is born but it is not really even like that. At that
moment, when Siddhartha dies the Buddha is seen as having been alive all the time, as we
say, but when we say all the time we really mean above and beyond time, out of time
altogether.
Now to come back to another very important reflection of Buddhist thought, and even of
metaphysical thought in the West, time and space are not things in themselves. We
usually think of time and space as things in themselves. We think of space as a sort of
box within which things move about, we think of time as a sort of tunnel along which
things move, but they are not really like that.
Time and space are really forms of our perception. When we see things, phenomena, we
perceive them under the form of time, we perceive them under the form of space, as it
were through the spectacles of space, through the spectacles of time. When we experience
them through these dimensions, then we speak of these things as phenomena. And these
phenomena make up the world of relative existence, of conditioned existence, or what
Buddhists call Sasra.
But when we enter this other dimension, when we enter the dimension of eternity, then
we go beyond time and beyond space, and therefore we go beyond phenomena, which are
only realities as seen under the forms of space and time. So we go beyond the world, we
go beyond Sasra, and in the Buddhist idiom we enter Nirvana, or in the Hindu idiom
we go from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, from death to immortality.
Often Enlightenment is described as awakening to the truth of things. Described in terms
of knowledge and vision of reality, seeing things as they really are, not as they appear.
Seeing things in their truth, seeing things free from any veils, free from any obscurations.
Seeing them without being influenced or affected by our own assumptions, our own
psychological conditionings. Just seeing them with perfect objectivity, as they are.
Not only seeing them, but if you like, becoming one with them, becoming one with
Reality, or one with the Reality of things. So the Buddha, the one who has awoken to this
truth, the one who, as it were, exists out of time, in this dimension of eternity, maybe
regarded, therefore, as reality itself in human form. The form is human but the substance,
if you like, is reality itself.
And this is what is meant by saying that the Buddha is an Enlightened human being; the
form is human, there is a human form, but there isnt the ordinary conditioned human
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mind. In the place, as it were, if we can use such an expression, in the place, as it were, of
the conditioned human mind with all its prejudices and preconceptions and limitations, in
the place of that there is reality itself, or the experience or the awareness of reality.
Therefore we say that the Buddha, the Enlightened one is reality in human form, or
symbolises, or represents that in human form.
So what is meant when we say, in the words of the Dhammapada, that the Buddha
cannot be tracked, he doesnt leave any trace, he is the pathless one. Just like the bird
going through the sky, the bird doesnt leave any track in the sky, and if you try to track a
bird by following its path in the sky, and looking for signs that it has left in the sky, then
you would have your work cut out, as they say. So it is just the same with the Buddha,
you cant track him, you cant trace him, because he belongs to a different dimension, the
transcendental dimension, the dimension of eternity the same idea is expressed in the
Sutta Nipta, where the Buddha says, There is no measuring of man, won to the goal,
whereby theyd say His measure is so. - thats not for him. When all conditions are
removed, all ways of telling are removed. When all psychological conditionings are
removed in a person then you have no way of accounting for that person, and this is what
the Buddha is like.
And the same sort of idea is expressed more abstractly in four out of the list of Fourteen
Inexpressibles, as they are called. We wont go into all of these now but these four
positions are; whether the Buddha existed, or would exist after death, or not, or both, or
neither. And the Buddha was very often asked this. For some reason or another some of
the ancient Indians had a real thing about this, and they often used to come to the Buddha
and say, Please tell us, when you die, will you go on living or not, or both, or neither?
So the Buddha always used to repudiate all these four, and he would say, It is
inappropriate, it is inapplicable to say of a Buddha that after death he will continue to
exist. It is also inappropriate to say that after death he will cease to exist. It is
inappropriate to say he will continue to exist and cease to exist. And it is inappropriate to
say that he will neither continue to exist nor cease to exist. All these are quite
inapplicable and quite inappropriate. Because, he goes on to say,
Even during his
lifetime, even when he sits there in a physical body the Tathgata, the Buddha, is beyond
all your classifications, beyond all your categories.
You cant say anything about him. The Buddha is the person about whom you cant say
anything, because he doesnt have anything, he isnt anything in a sense. And this is why
in the Sutta Nipta again, there is an epithet of the Enlightened beings, akincana, which
is usually translated as man of nought, one who has nothing because he is nothing, and
therefore you cant say anything about him. Which is very tantalising for the human
mind.
We are not going into that now, however, but what we are concerned with and what is
significant is that this all crystallized eventually, into a very important distinction, made
with regard to the Buddha. And that is the distinction between what came to be called h is
Rpakya, his physical, phenomenal appearance, and his Dharmakya, his true form, his
essential form. Rpakya literally means form body, and Dharmakya means body of
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truth or body of reality. Rpakya is the Buddha as existing in time, Dharmakya is th e

Buddha as existing out of time in the dimension of eternity, and it is the latter, the
Dharmakya that is the real body.
And this is clear, for instance, from the Buddhas admonition to Vakkali. There was a
monk called Vakkali who was very, very devoted to the Buddha, so much so that he used
to go about, he used to follow the Buddha around just looking at him. He was so
fascinated by the appearance and the personality of the Buddha he just used to spend all
his time just sitting and looking at the Buddha, or following him round and just looking at
him. He didnt want any teaching, he didnt have any questions to ask, he just wanted to
look at the Buddha. So one day the Buddha called him and he said, Vakkali, this physical
body is not me. If you want to see me, see the Dharma, see the Dharmakya, see my true
form. And we are told that Vakkali afterwards meditated upon this.
And the same point of view is found in two very famous verses of the Diamond Stra.
One of the most important of all Buddhist texts, where the Buddha says to Subhuti, he
says, Those who by my form did see me by my physical appearance, And those who
followed me by voice, wrong the effort they engaged in, me those people will not see.
From the Dharma should one see the Buddhas, from the Dharma bodies comes their
guidance, yet Dharmas true nature cannot be discerned and no-one can be conscious of it
as an object.
Most of us, like Vakkali, try to see the Buddha in, as it were, the wrong way. Not that we
should ignore the Rpakya, the physical body, the form body, but we should take it as a
symbol of the Dharmakya, the true form and the true body, the Buddha as he is above
and beyond time, in eternity as it were, in his ultimate essence.
But we must confess, we must admit, that the word Buddha itself is very often a bit
ambiguous. Sometimes when we say The Buddha, we mean the historical figure. For
instance we say that the Buddha spoke Magadhi, well here obviously the Buddha means
the historical figure, Gautama the Buddha. But sometimes we use the word Buddha to
mean the transcendental reality, as when we say for instance, Look for the Buddha
within yourself. When we say look for the Buddha within yourself we dont mean just
Gautama the Buddha, we dont just mean Siddhartha, we mean the eternal, the time
transcending Buddha nature within ourselves.
...To briefly summarize the conclusions reached so far: Enlightenment, we may say, can
be looked at from two points of view. It can be looked at from the point of view of time,
from the point of eternity. It can be regarded as the culmination of the evolutionary
process, a process that is carried on, a culmination that is reached through and by means
of personal effort. But Enlightenment can also be regarded as being a sort of break
through into a new dimension beyond time and beyond the evolutionary process. In the
same way we can look at the Buddha in two ways, as Rpakya and the Dharmakya; as
included in history and also as transcending history.

Page 148 of 150
And in the second case, when we regard the Buddha or Buddhahood as synonymous with
Reality, as occupying the dimension of eternity, as transcending time, then the Buddha
figure becomes a symbol of reality itself.
From, The Buddha, God, and Reality:
Ask yourself the kinds of questions Ive given below:
1. In what does the story of the Stra in these later chapters consist? How are its
major themes, points and message being conveyed? What is its overarching
purpose, feel and character? How does it unfold? How does the form of the
parable contribute to this?
2. How do these different incidents contribute, support and relate to the unfolding of
the story of the Stra at this stage, its distinctive feel and quality?
3. Wherein lies the dramatic tension, oppositions, even conflict either between
characters or within any particular characters? What values are being portrayed at
variance? What resolutions, if any, are played out, or suggested? How is this
portrayed?
4. What sort of world does the Stra portray? What does it convey about the
5. Is the reader meant to simply observe the story as something that happened to
the key characters, or how are you drawn into the story so that it becomes your
story as well?

Page 149 of 150
Appendix: Unit 10 The Parable of the Good Physician

This unit can be used simply as a way of concluding study of the Stra, with the Parable
of the Good Physician arguably repeating the message already conveyed earlier, albeit
with a different twist. However as Sangharakshita makes clear in his lecture th e Parable
also embodies the archetype of the Healer, and thereby provides the occasion to pursue
learning how to engage with archetypes even more consciously than hitherto. There are of
course all sorts of ways in which this can be done.
One good start is to follow up the two sources below:
Listen to Sangharakshitas audio-lecture The Archetype of the Divine Healer, and/or read
Chapter Eight of the same title in Sangharakshita, The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment:
Glasgow, 1993.
Read The Journey to Il Convento and St. Jerome Revisited in Sangharakshita, The
Priceless Jewel, Windhorse, Glasgow, 1993, pp.47-91, or listen to them at:
The Journey to Il Convento: http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=163
St. Jerome Revisited: http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=164
Here Sangharakshita sketches out his own understanding of the archetypal realm and
gives us some insight into how he has personally worked with a particular archetype
expressed in the figure of St. Jerome.
C. J. Jungs Memories, Dreams and Reflections (1963) is also a favourite starting point
for many people.
http://tinyurl.com/ykn2uma
A good project topic could be to follow up any particular images within the Stra that
have appealed to you strongly and unearth the archetypal dimensions of meaning being
expressed to you through the images. This can only be work-in-progress insofar as the
archetypal is always an ongoing unfolding of meaning, that is progressively discovered
as we progress through life.

Page 150 of 150

Reading the Lotus Sūtra for Spiritual Insight

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Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Recommended chapters in Stra

How to read the Stra

The Mahynas stance

The Saddharma-puarka Stra

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22

Transcending the Human Predicament

The Myth of the Return Journey

The Jewel in the Lotus

Symbols of Life & Growth

The Revelation of Abundant Treasures

The Eternal Buddha

The Parable of the Good Physican

Suggestions for further reading, project work, more questions.

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 1 How to Read the Stra

Throughout the worlds history, the figure of the story-teller, encircled by a

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 2 The Mahynas Stance

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Sangharakshita, The Magic of a Mahyna Stra in The Inconceivable Liberation,

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 3 The Saddharma-puarka Stra, The White Lotus Stra

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 4 Transcending the Human Predicament

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 5 The Myth of the Return Journey

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 6 The Jewel in the Lotus

ibid. Ch.7, last four lines.

Enlightenment, he would be the guardian of the Dharma of future Buddhas

Whose eyes betray distinguished wisdom-knowledge;

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

O you, whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are friendly,

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Your lustre is spotless and immaculate,

Saddharma-puarka, XXIV, vv 17-27

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 7 Symbols of Life and Growth

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 8 The Revelation of Abundant Treasures

incoming multitudes untold millions of worlds in the eight directions of space.

The Lotus of the Wonderful Law, p.163.

instantly to a distant world-system, attains Supreme Enlightenment there and

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 9 The Eternal Buddha

These Bodhisattvas are my sons

We usually and up to a point quite justifiably think of the Buddha as a

So you find yourself, as it were, (again a metaphor so dont start taking it

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Unit 10 The Parable of the Good Physician

exist ultimately on a transcendental level, only fully realised in Enlightenment.

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

White Lotus Stra Appendix

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Subhuti, Chapter 10: The Psychology of Spiritual Life (p.273ff), in Sangharakshita: A

Sangharakshita, Chapter 3: Transcending the Human Predicament in The Drama of

Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras